[Discussioni] PR, da UEAPME (UEAPME represents over 11 million enterprises with nearly 50 million employees.)

[Stefano Maffulli]

Ricevo e inoltro:

                                           Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
  New proposal needed on patents for computer-implemented inventions
Brussels, 7 February 2005 UEAPME, the European association for small
and medium business
and crafts, has welcomed the decision of the European Parliament's
Legal Affairs Committee to
ask the Commission to make a fresh proposal on the patenting of
computer-implemented
inventions.
"A new proposal, which properly addresses the concerns of small and
medium businesses, is the
only way to satisfactorily resolve the impasse on and restore the
credibility of the proposed
directive," said Hans-Werner Müller, UEAPME Secretary General. "In its
current form, the
directive would be damaging for SMEs."
UEAPME is concerned that the directive would reinforce monopolisation
in the software sector
and act as a barrier to innovation by SMEs and micro-enterprises. The
Commission should now
take the opportunity to introduce a new proposal, whereby patents
would not be issued for pure
software products. UEAPME believes that these products are already
successfully covered by the
copyrighting system, under which the software sector has developed and
continues to flourish.
Software clearly differs from other industrial computer products,
which may be better protected
by patents. Software is, by nature, an organic product that builds on
pre-existing ideas. This
process of open sourcing, which has enabled innovation in the sector
to thrive, would become
almost impossible under a patenting system. UEAPME does not advocate
free software, however
introducing a patent for pure software, and the costs that this would
entail, would be damaging for
small and medium enterprises.
"The current proposal has been discredited by the serious divisions
that have left the decision-
making process deadlocked. The Commission should now act on the
decision of the Parliament
and bring forward a new, more coherent and balanced proposal,"
concluded Mr Müller.
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Further information: Maria Cimaglia, UEAPME Responsible Legal Affairs,
Ph: 02 230 75 99
Richard More O'Ferrall, Press officer
Tel: +32 2 230 7599/ GSM: +32 477 44 38 42
Email: pressoffice a ueapme.com
Web: http://ueapme.com/EN/index.shtml