Re: Patents on encoders in Europe

[thomas@xicnet.com]

>         Hi,
>
>  With the recent clarifications on software patents in Europe, would it
>  be possible to distribute encoders packages from Europe?

We won a battle that shouldn´t be fought. Currently the situation is
*exactly* the same as before, nothing has changed.

Better it would have been if the directive as amended by parlament had
been approvated.

Software patentes are still illegal according to the european patent
agreement of Munchen.
EPO -created by the same agreement- is still granting patent software. But
 only a judge can establish if the patent are legal or not. The very
function of EPO in granting patents is give a *legal* date of the
invention, in case in future software patents becoms legal in UE (that is
not europe, EPO is not a UE institution!).


>  My current understanding is that the algorithm can be patented, but a
>  pure software implementation is not violating such a patent.  Is that
>  correct?

I would say that the current situation neither permits pure alghritms to
be patented. Have you time and money to prove that through a trial?
;-)

thomas