Commission does not want to compare EPLA and the defunt software patent directive

abstract here

Question

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3502/06 by David Hammerstein Mintz (Verts/ALE) to the Commission Subject: EPLA The aim of the EPLA (European Patent Litigation Agreement) is to harmonise the diverging interpretation of the EPC in all states that would sign the agreement. This is essentially the same goal as the software patent directive which was rejected last year by the European Parliament with near unanimity. Does the European Commission agree with the above?

E-3502/06EN
Answer given by Mr McCreevy on behalf of the Commission (15.9.2006) The rejected proposal for a Directive on the patentability of computer- implemented inventions aimed at harmonising substantive patent law within the European Community for dealing with inventions which make use of software. It was a proposal for a legislative instrument meant to clarify and codify the legal situation in that particular field. The draft EPLA, on the other hand, is a draft agreement prepared within the European Patent Organisation on an integrated judicial system for the settlement of litigation concerning European patents. Such a system aims at a unified interpretation of substantive rules of existing patent law through a unitary jurisdiction, but does not change these rules. The Commission is therefore of the view that these two instruments are not comparable.