On Mon, Dec 27, 2004 at 03:26:35PM +0100, cobaco (aka Bart Cornelis) wrote: > On Monday 27 December 2004 14:58, Florian Weimer wrote: > > >> You deleted the part about the patent on a transmission system > > >> involving compression. The relevant European patents are EP 0400755, > > >> EP 0402973, EP 0599824 and EP 0660540. > > > > > > as current EU legislation explicitly forbids software-patents[1] none > > > of those are currently legal. > > > > Quite a few European companies which have licensed those patents seem > > to disagree. > > > > > [1] In article 52 of the European Patent Convention of 1973 it is > > > stated that mathematical methods, intellectual methods, business > > > methods, computer programs, presentation of information etc are not > > > inventions in the sense of patent law > > > > Unfortunately, Article 52 doesn't state that these things cannot > > infringe any patent claims, which is the more important thing for us. > > You lost me there: > how can something that's explicitly excluded from being covered by patents > possibly infringe a patent? I presume that what Florian means is that, while you cannot patent a software invention, an implementation in software of a patented process or mechanism (which is otherwise implemented in some non-software form) is still an infringement of the patent. It wouldn't happen real often, but I can certainly imagine a few cases where such a thing could happen. - Matt
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