Automobile/Automotive/Automation Industry and Software Patents
-> [ Volvo | Scania | Industry | Patent News ]
The automobile industry has sometimes been drawn into the software patent debate through the networks of corporate patent lawyers and large enterprises. The IT departments of the same companies usually do not want software patents and have sometimes expressed this in public.
Patent Activism in the Automotive/Automation industry
Patent-Critical Testimony from the Automotive/Automation Industry
ESR Pollmeier (servo drives, for robots more than automobiles)
Cigref 2003
In June 2003, Jean-Pierre Courniou, R&D director of Renault and president of the "Club Informatique des Grandes Entreprises Françaises" (CIGREF = Computing Club of the Large French Companies) declared software patents to be a great danger for the automobile industry and summarised: "For me and for CIGREF, the response is: no, we don't want patentability". According to FFII's research, Volvo owns far fewer software patents than Renault and is definitely on the losing end of the software patent game in every respect.
