| Author (Person) | Chapman, Peter |
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| Series Title | European Voice |
| Series Details | Vol.10, No.18, 20.5.04 |
| Publication Date | 20/05/2004 |
| Content Type | News |
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By Peter Chapman Date: 20/055/04 EU COMPETITIVENESS ministers have reached agreement on a proposed directive on computer-software related inventions. They backed the Commission's draft law aimed at boosting innovation by ensuring that those who invest in developing genuinely new products that depend on computer implemented technology can get a fair reward. Ministers agreed that the Commission's approach would achieve this without sealing off the software market to new initiatives and inventions. But the deal sets up a clash with MEPs, as the outgoing Parliament wanted wide exclusions covering the use of patented technology for interoperability and data handling. However, the Commission and Council of Ministers felt that these went beyond what was required to set the right balance between rewarding inventors for their efforts and allowing competitors to build on these inventions, and could harm EU competitiveness. Frits Bolkestein, the commissioner responsible for the proposals. said: "The Commission has always been committed to making sure that patents in this field cannot be used to squeeze out legitimate competition or to prevent others getting fair access to technology and ideas. "I very much hope the new European Parliament will be able to adopt it swiftly, he added. Ministers meeting at the Competitiveness Council on 17-18 May 2004 reached political agreement concerning the proposal for a Directive on the patentability of computer-implemented inventions. Once the text has been formally adopted by the Council, it will be submitted to the European Parliament for second reading. |
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| Source Link | Link to Main Source http://www.european-voice.com/ |
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| Subject Categories | Internal Markets |
