[Fsfe-uk] UK appeal court upholds wonky pro-swpat ruling

[Ciaran O'Riordan]

Complete with gormeless pro-patent rhetoric, timesonline.co.uk reports that,
following the UK IPO's complaint against the High Court's pro-swpat ruling,
the UK Court of Appeal has rejected the IPO's appeal and has instead agreed
with the High Court that, for "complex software", software patents are
valid:

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/law/article4907993.ece

We previously saw a post-Nov-2009 swpat debate as an inevitability that we'd
have to prepare for whether we want it or not.  With this ruling, a new
EU-level legislative proposal is becoming something we might even push for.

(Nov 2009 is when a new European Commission will be chosen.  Commissioner
McCreevy said he'd make no further legislative proposals regarding swpats
during his term, so there's a good chance that something will be launched
when he is replaced.)

I put the relevent part of the European Patent Convention online here with
some links:
http://fsfe.org/en/fellows/ciaran/ciaran_s_free_software_notes/why_european_software_patents_are_legally_invalid

-- 
Ciarán O'Riordan, +32 477 36 44 19, http://ciaran.compsoc.com/

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