Why does the following point keep coming up? Do I misunderstand the issue, or is this just plain nonsense:
From: http://www.enn.ie/news.html?code=9587188
Indeed, the big businesses that backed the directive -- such as Philips, Nokia, Alcatel and Microsoft [...] also say, in somewhat ominous terms, that without patent protection, big companies will be less inclined to spend cash on European R&D projects, because the governments of Europe cannot offer any guarantees that commercially useful technology will be protected. In the US, those much-needed safeguards are in place, patent supporters note.
I presume that these big companies will obtain patents in all territories where patents are available, regardless of where the R&D is performed. Unless they are threatening this merely as revenge (and I would think that there responsibility to their own shareholders precludes this), there would be no more or less reason to do R&D in Europe whether software is patentable there or not. Am I wrong?
Perplexed from Dublin.
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Malcolm Tyrrell writes:
Why does the following point keep coming up? Do I misunderstand the issue, or is this just plain nonsense:
From: http://www.enn.ie/news.html?code%C2%9587188
Indeed, the big businesses that backed the directive -- such as Philips, Nokia, Alcatel and Microsoft [...] also say, in somewhat ominous terms, that without patent protection, big companies will be less inclined to spend cash on European R&D projects, because the governments of Europe cannot offer any guarantees that commercially useful technology will be protected. In the US, those much-needed safeguards are in place, patent supporters note.
I presume that these big companies will obtain patents in all territories where patents are available, regardless of where the R&D is performed. Unless they are threatening this merely as revenge (and I would think that there responsibility to their own shareholders precludes this), there would be no more or less reason to do R&D in Europe whether software is patentable there or not. Am I wrong?
Nope. You're spot on -- this is just FUD.
Applying for patents world-wide does seem to be the general strategy -- in fact, most software patents would typically be applied for first in the US (being the largest software market), then in regional markets (EPO, Japan, Oz, etc.)
It doesn't matter where the company performs it's R&D -- as long as it has an office in the country governed by the relevant patent office, it can apply for patents there. Doesn't matter if R&D actually takes place there, just sales, or even just an office admin manning an answerphone. As a result it's SOP for most medium-to-large-sized software companies to have at least a small subsidiary company in each overseas region, to perform tasks like this.
(Money and time is an issue, of course, since each patent application is a separate application, requires lawyer billable hours, and has its own fees for each region. That can interfere in getting all areas covered. But that's irrelevant to this FUD soundbite.)
- --j.
On Fri, Feb 11, 2005 at 04:53:13PM +0000, Malcolm Tyrrell wrote:
I presume that these big companies will obtain patents in all territories where patents are available, regardless of where the R&D is performed. Unless they are threatening this merely as revenge (and I would think that there responsibility to their own shareholders precludes this), there would be no more or less reason to do R&D in Europe whether software is patentable there or not. Am I wrong?
As far as I can see you're right and in fact this is a plus for Europe as labs in Europe would be free to use other people's patents during their research whereas in other regions they would have to license them before they could implement them, even for private use,
Fergal
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Fergal Daly writes:
On Fri, Feb 11, 2005 at 04:53:13PM +0000, Malcolm Tyrrell wrote:
I presume that these big companies will obtain patents in all territories where patents are available, regardless of where the R&D is performed. Unless they are threatening this merely as revenge (and I would think that there responsibility to their own shareholders precludes this), there would be no more or less reason to do R&D in Europe whether software is patentable there or not. Am I wrong?
As far as I can see you're right and in fact this is a plus for Europe as labs in Europe would be free to use other people's patents during their research whereas in other regions they would have to license them before they could implement them, even for private use,
you know, that's a *very* good point!
This is actually quite a big win for European R&D, too, since it would mean they could develop a technique *similar* to a patented technique, as long as the patented technique was only implemented on software inside their European labs. ha!
- --j.