The German parliament is asking the government to prevent patents being granted for software. Last Friday, the Bundestag adopted a joint motion to make copyright the exclusive method for protecting software. One of the aims of the motion is to increase legal security for developers of free and open source software. The government should make sure its laws and measures are compatible with free software.
The Bundestag wants the German government to make sure European legislation won't allow patents on software and is calling for a review of European patent offices that have approved patents on software.
In May, a draft of the resolution was discussed at a hearing convened by a legal committee at the Bundestag. According to a press release by the parliament, most of software experts and legal experts at that meeting agreed that patents on software hinder innovation and can harm developers of free and open source software. The legal committee recommended voting in favour of the resolution, supported by several other parliamentary committees, including one dealing with economy and technology.
Clear signal
The resolution was welcomed by two German IT trade groups, BITMI and BIKT, both representing ICT companies. In a statement on Friday, the two said: "SMEs today are facing incalculable costs and liabilities because of the existence of tens of thousands of software related patents in Germany and Europe." They hope the motion will give a clear signal to Brussels, "as the EU has for years been unable to arrange legal security in the software sector."
The Free Software Foundation Europe also welcomed the resolution. Yesterday the advocacy group said: "This is an important step to fix the software patent insanity. It's great to see that all of Germany's major parties understand that software patents are a huge problem."
Royalty-free
The European Commission's Directorate General for Enterprise and Industry organised several meetings over the past years on intellectual property rights and standardisation. During the most recent meeting November, the discussion involved patenting of software and the problems this could cause for free and open source software.
More information:
Bikt news item (in German)
FSFE press statement
Press release by the Bundestag (in German)
Linux Magazine news item (in German)
Implementing FRAND standards in Open Source, workshops by DG Enterprise