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EU Patents United Kingdom

Nonprofit Argues Germany Can't Ratify the 'Unitary Patent' Because of Brexit (ffii.org) 64

Long-time Slashdot reader zoobab shares this update from the Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure, a Munich-based non-profit opposing ratification of a "Unified Patent Court" by Germany. They argue such a court will "validate and expand software patents in Europe," and they've come up with a novel argument to stop it.

"Germany cannot ratify the current Unitary Patent due to Brexit..." The U.K. is now a "third state" within the meaning of AETR case-law, [which] makes clear that:

"Each time the Community, with a view to implementing a common policy envisaged by the Treaty, adopts provisions laying down common rules, whatever form they may take, the Member States no longer have the right, acting individually or even collectively, to undertake obligations with third countries which affect those rules or alter their scope..."

This practically means that the ratification procedure for the Agreement on the Unified Patent Court must now come to an end, as that Agreement no longer applies due to the current significant changes (i.e. Brexit) in the membership requirements of its own ratification rules.

The nonprofit also argues that the Unitary Patent "is a highly controversial and extreme issue, as it allows new international patent courts to have the last word on the development and application of patent law and industrial property monopolies including, more seriously, the validation and expansion of software patents, that is the key sector on which whole industries and markets depend."
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Nonprofit Argues Germany Can't Ratify the 'Unitary Patent' Because of Brexit

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  • by Kunedog ( 1033226 ) on Sunday February 23, 2020 @01:00AM (#59756050)
    The patent system is the motherfucker of invention.
  • Then vote again. The UK is out so vote inside the EU and see what nations want.
    All nations want the laws? Accept...
    Cant get the numbers to add up? Vote again.
    The UK is out of the EU so that is not an issue.
    Its an EU nation matter to vote for or not...
  • EU Software Patents (Score:4, Informative)

    by zoobab ( 201383 ) on Sunday February 23, 2020 @05:18AM (#59756306) Homepage

    The European Commission acknowledged in 2012 that the unitary patent is not safeguarded against the granting of software patents by endorsing the EPO teaching:

    https://blog.ffii.org/unitary-... [ffii.org]

    It's time to get out of the woods again.

  • Anyone who says the software industry depends on patents either is purposely misleading people or has no clue how the tech industry really works. The only people who really benefit from software patents are lawyers and patent trolls, most major tech companies have public positions AGAINT software patents and only participate in their own filings for protection... the whole thing is a giant shell game. Patents donâ(TM)t make any sense in software because the industry moves so fast that lifetime of a pat

    • by hey! ( 33014 )

      Oh, I think the software *industry* is dependent upon patents. That doesn't mean that software patents accomplish anything for consumers.

    • IMHO Software should only be copywritable not patentable. If one person figures out how to accomplish a task using software code, then others can. It's not "invention", it's writing the idea down in a way that works within the framework of the software environment. Being "patentable" is plain rubbish. Everyone has the same tools available to them, and could duplicate the idea as written, it just takes some critical thinking skills.

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