Re: Patents on encoders in Europe
On 7/23/05, Loïc Minier <lool+debian@via.ecp.fr> wrote:
> With the recent clarifications on software patents in Europe, would it
> be possible to distribute encoders packages from Europe?
Very inadvisable without an encouraging opinion from competent
counsel, which (IANAL, TINLA) you won't get without cooperation with
Thomson. Based on their recent statements, however, it appears to me
that there might be an approach towards them that could result in a
modus vivendi; thread at
http://lists.debian.org/debian-legal/2005/07/msg00273.html .
> My current understanding is that the algorithm can be patented, but a
> pure software implementation is not violating such a patent. Is that
> correct?
No. Mathematical methods and computer programs "as such" are
explicitly not patentable under the EPC, but that is currently
understood to mean that the invention must have a "technical effect"
beyond the manipulation of numbers and bits in a computer's memory.
This is very similar AFAICT to the "concrete, tangible, and useful
result" standard applied in the US since the 1994 In re Alappat
ruling. Thread, with references to case law and the participation of
an actual European lawyer, at
http://lists.debian.org/debian-legal/2005/07/msg00323.html .
Cheers,
- Michael
(IANAL, TINLA)
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