The on-again/off-again European fight over software patents is confusing as hell — what is the procedure here? What does the directive say? Why are software patents dangerous? This O'Reilly Network article brilliantly demystifies the process.
For example, article 4a of the Council document states that "A computer program as such cannot constitute a patentable invention. Accordingly, inventions involving computer programmes, whether expressed as source code, as object code or in any other form, which implement business, mathematical or other methods and do not produce any technical effects beyond the normal physical interactions between a program and the computer, network, or other programmable apparatus in which it is run shall not be patentable."
However, article 2a of their document defines the term "computer-implemented invention," which the document uses later to describe inventions that are patentable. It states that "'computer-implemented invention' means any invention the performance of which involves the use of a computer, computer network or other programmable apparatus, the invention having one or more features which are realised wholly or partly by means of a computer program or computer programs."
Confused? You should be. Some recitals in the proposal are phrased in such a way that they seem to indicate restrictions in patentability, while many of the legally binding provisions in the articles confirm the 30,000 software patents already approved by the European Patent Office and leave the door wide open for further patenting of software. The Parliament text of 2003 made the distinction close to watertight.
(via /.)
