The UK government has responded to an
e-petition
asking for software patents to be "clearly unenforceable", agreeing with the
stand of the petitioners.
The petition claimed that software patents are "used by convicted monopolists
to threaten customers who consider using rival software. As a result, patents
stifle innovation."
The
Prime
Minister's office said in its
response:
"The government remains committed to its policy that no patents should exist for
inventions which make advances lying solely in the field of software.
"Although certain jurisdictions, such as the US, allow more liberal patenting
of software-based inventions, these patents cannot be enforced in the UK."
Some critics consider the response to be only lip service, however, as it
gives no indication of how the government will deal with what the petition calls
a patent office that "grants software patents against the letter and the spirit
of the law … by pretending that there is a difference between software and
'computer implemented inventions'".
The government statement refers to the recently published
Gowers
Review of Intellectual Property, which recommended that patent rights should
not be extended to cover pure software, business methods and genes.
"The government will implement those recommendations for which it is respon
sible, and will therefore continue to exclude patents from areas where they may
hinder innovation, including patents which are too broad, speculative or
obvious, or where the advance they make lies in an excluded area such as
software," it said.
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