Blackmoor Vituperative

Software patent campaigners have reacted with surprise to an apparent change in the European Commission’s stance on those patents.

The Commission said last week that computer programs will be excluded from patentability in the upcoming Community Patent legislation and that the European Patent Office will be bound by this law.

“The EPO would … apply and be bound by a new unitary Community law with respect to Community patents,” the Commission said in a statement. “The draft Community Patent regulation confirms in its Article 28.1(a) that patents granted for a subject matter (such as computer programs), which is excluded from patentability pursuant to Article 52 EPC, may be invalidated in a relevant court proceeding.”

(from ZDNet, Europe: No patents for software)

This is a change from what the EC said last year. I am curious what the explanation for that change is, but really, anything that moves away from patenting software and algorithms is a good thing.