For general information on software patents, see the main article.

There is heated debate as to whether it should be possible to patent software as a matter of public policy.

A particularly active focus of the debate at the present time is the proposed European Union directive on the patentability of computer-implemented inventions, also known as the "CII Directive" or the "Software Patent Directive," which is scheduled to return to the EU Parliament in 2005.

Arguments for patentability

Arguments commonly given in defense of software patents or in defense of the patentability of computer-implemented inventions (which could be defined differently) include:

• Patenting software inventions promotes investment in research and development.
  • Economic studies argue that patent monopolies actually reduce investment.
  • Patents are intended to protect investment in manufacturing equipment/process, not in R&D. Patents do not provide anything like reasonable protection for R&D investment.
• If we did not have software patents we would not have technologies like CDs, mobile phones and ABS brakes.^{US Federal Trade Commission 2003 patent report}
• ^ Patents4Innovation
• ^ Ways in Which Patents can Help Your E-Commerce Business
• ^ "Restricting IP rights is tantamount to communism"
• ^ [21]
• ^ [22]
• ^ The Times 17Jan05
• ^ FFII Directive Analysis
• ^ Indian Government Reference
• ^ "Indian Government Orders Legalisation of Software Patents"
• ^ FFII - Europarl Hearings
• ^ Lawrence Lessig
• ^ [23]
• ^ French (in French)
• ^ FFII
• ^ [24]

External links

Sites in favor of the patentability of computer-implemented inventions

• Patents4Innovation.org, a web site to promote innovation and competition in e-Europe.
• EICTA web site (see also: European Information, Communications and Consumer Electronics Technology Industry Associations or EICTA)
• Article from IEEE on the business model of Acacia Technologies Group .
• iusmentis.com is a web site from a patent attorney. It contains a good explanation of how patents work.

Sites against software patents

• Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure (FFII)
  • Webshop example Demonstrates the extent of software patents.
  • Opposition by FFII to software patent legislation in Europe
  • The report from the hearings of the FTC a summary of what was said to the FTC.
• No Software Patents - a web campaign supported by companies (1&1, Red Hat, MySQL)
• The History of Software Patents from BitLaw.
• Free Software Foundation: transcript and audio of Software patents – Obstacles to software development which Richard Stallman gave about software patents (the audio archive linked contains two more speeches about software patents)
• Irish Free Software Organisation (IFSO)
• Liberal economists
• competition law bodies (BEUC)
• European SME groups (UEAPAME, CEA-PME, dmmv, DIHK, WKO, ...)
• EU campaign NoEpatents (Eurolinux-alliance) with more than 360 000 European signatures one of the largest Internet campaigns ever.
• League for Programming Freedom
• Sequential Innovation, Patents, and Imitation by James Bessen and Eric Maskin
• Software Patents vs. Free Software by Bruce Perens
• Report on Software Patentability by Conseil des Mines Study Group - Stimulating Innovation in the Information Society
• SWpat information page by ESR Pollmeier (German SME), opposed to swpat
• AEL (Association Electronique Libre) Wiki Software Patent Main Project page
  • on patent history, e.g. Diamond vs. Diehr
  • Coverage of Brussels 27 aug 2003 demo, AEL, Belgium
  • List of local campaign sites
• http://www.softwarepatents.co.uk/
• attac (Globalisation critics)
• W3C: Letter from Tim Berners-Lee to Rogan (about Eolas Plugin Patent):
• Code Liberty is a web site dedicated to the rights of software authors, and argues that patents are incompatible with the Berne Copyright Convention, and the WIPO and WTO treaties.
• Us action against Software patents
• Libro blanco del software libre FOSS situation in Spain
• Steven Young's legal advice