Software Patents in Europe

Several large companies that include Microsoft, Philips and Nokia have been lobbying the European Parliament and the EPO for software patents in Europe. This poses a threat to Free/libre software and we've covered this in the posts beneath.

2018

 * The EPO Grants Software Patents Under the 'CII' Umbrella, Mass Litigation in Europe Already a Problem
 * Short: EPO Says That Most (Over 50%) of Patent Applications at the EPO Are Software Patents
 * Battistelli's EPO Continues to Promote Software Patents and Even Pays the Media to Play Along, Impacting Other Continents
 * Today's EPO is Not Compatible With the Law and It's Grossly Incompatible With Truth and Justice
 * Short: EPO Explains to Examiners Why They Should and Apparently Can Grant Software Patents (in Spite of EPC)
 * The EPO Continues to Lie About Patent Quality Whilst Openly Promoting Software Patents, Even Outside Europe
 * Deleted EPO Tweets and Promotion of Software Patents Amid Complaints About Abuse and Demise of Patent Quality
 * The EPO's Paid Promotion of Software Patents Gets Patent Maximalists All Excited and Emboldened
 * Watch Out for Buzzwords That Are Used to Mask Patents on Software, Even in Europe
 * Battistelli Works With IAM and Pays European Media to Promote Software Patents in Europe
 * India and Europe Do Not Permit Software Patents, But Patent Law Firms Try to Work Around the Law
 * The EPO Ignores This Week's Decision Which Demonstrates Patent Scope Gone Awry; Software Patents Brought Up Again
 * Automotives, Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things and Industry 4.0 Among the Buzz Terms Used to Bypass Alice and the EPC Nowadays

2017

 * Battistelli Feels as Though He's Above the Law, So No Wonder He Pursues Software Patents in Europe (Against the Rules)
 * The EPO Has Found 'Creative' New Ways to Bribe the Media and Promote Software Patents
 * Buzzwords/Terms Like “Industry 4.0” or ICT as Cover for CII (Software Patents) at the EPO
 * EPO Continues to Disobey the Law on Software Patents in Europe
 * Expect an Avalanche of Bad Patents (Including Software Patents) From the EPO to Become Invalid, Shaving Off a Lot of Imaginary Value
 * The European Commission Has Essentially Invalided Many European Patents (EPs) for Being Out of Scope; Are Software Patents (CII) Next?
 * EPO Gets Together With Patent Radicals to Promote Software Patents
 * Patent Boxes Are for Tax Avoidance, But in the Land of Tax Avoidance (Switzerland) No Avoidance for Software Patents
 * Today, Koen Lievens From EPO is Promoting Pursuits of Software Patents in Defiance of the European Rules
 * The Collapse of Patent Quality at the EPO is Inviting to Europe Some of the World's Worst Patent Trolls
 * When It Comes to Software Patents, the EPO Has Become Among the Worst in the World
 * Software Patents and the Unified Patent Court (Talk From Friday)
 * European Commission Betrays the Public by Promoting Software Patents
 * Software Patents in Europe Are Still Promoted by the EPO, Even in Defiance of the Ban
 * Techrights Was Right About the Unitary Patent (UPC)
 * EPO’s Georg Weber Continues Horrifying Trend of EPO Promoting Software Patents in Defiance of Directive, EPC, and Common Sense
 * “EPO Continues to Grant Software Patents”
 * Someone Needs to Explain/Remind EPO Management That Software Patents Are Not (Supposed to Be) Valid in Europe

2016

 * At EPOPIC Today, As Expected, Software Patents Courtesy of EPO
 * The EPO's Continued Push for Software Patents, Marginalisation of Appeals (Reassessment), and Deviation From the EPC
 * Personal Audio LLC and Patent Troll Jim Logan Demonstrate the Harms of Software Patents and Why They Must Never Spread to Europe
 * Software Patents Still a Problem in Europe (in Spite of the European Patent Convention), the UPC Would Make Things Worse
 * Software Patents in Europe and the UPC Already a Problem
 * UPC Would Bring Software Patents to Europe and Open the Floodgates to Litigation
 * Benjamin Henrion's (FFII) FOSDEM Talk About UPC and Software Patents in Europe
 * Microsoft-Connected FRAND Lobbying (Software Patents Against Free/Open Source Software) in Brussels
 * Company Known as European Patent Office Provides Tips on How to Patent Software in Europe
 * Slides of New Talk Which Explains the Connection Between the Unitary Patent (UPC) and Software Patents
 * Richard Stallman: European Software Patents Are Back With the Unitary Patent Court (UPC)
 * Germany Needs to Respect the European Patent Convention and Stop Issuing Software Patents, Also Reject UPC

2015

 * Today's Chaos Computer Club (CCC) Talk: EU Software and Business Method Patents: Call for Action
 * Patent Lawyers Want to Bring Software Patents (Hence Patent Trolls Too) to Europe, Piggyback Battistelli’s Habitual UPC Promotion
 * So-Called ‘Trade’ Treaties Like TPP and TTIP Threaten to Legalise Software Patents in Europe and Even Effectively Ban Software Freedom/Copyleft
 * CopyCamp '15 in Warsaw Discussed the Problem of Patents on Software, Which Still Exist in Europe
 * EPO Management Lobbies for the Unitary Patent (UPC) and Uses This to Advance Software Patents in Europe
 * European Pirate Party MEP Julia Reda Says TPP Will Bring Software Patents to Europe and Other Continents/Countries
 * Patent Practitioners: "The Unitary Patent Might be Able to Open the Floodgates for Software Patents in Europe"
 * Better Watch Out or the United States Will Export Software Patents to Europe, Along With Patent Trolls
 * European Unitary Patent and Court System in Trouble

2014

 * EPO and UPC in Europe Now the Hope of Patent Maximalists, China Too is Assimilating
 * Another Depressing Look at the Patent Systems in the US and in Europe
 * Arguments Persist Over Whether Software Patents Died in the US Whilst European Patent Law is Quietly Assimilated to US
 * Software Patents Are Still a Threat to Europe Due to ‘Unitary’ Patent

2013

 * European Commission Takes Next Step Towards Legalising Software Patents in Europe
 * US Patent System Utterly Broken and Threatens Expansion to Europe
 * The Patent Lawyers in the EU and NZ Must Not Decide on Patent Policy Including Software Patents
 * As the Battle to Legitimise Software Patents in New Zealand and Europe Carries on, New Systemic Corruption Found
 * Software Patenting Under Attack in Germany
 * The European Patent Office is Breaking the Law Regarding Software Patents, German Parliament Finally Complains
 * With Unitary Patent Scheme, EPO Pushes Hard for Software Patenting (More Leech Income)

2012

 * The Aftermath of ‘Unitary’ Patent
 * ‘Unitary Patent’ Helps Microsoft Extend Linux/Android Patent Extortion to Europe
 * Birgitta Jónsdóttir, Glyn Moody, April, FSFE and Many Others Oppose Unitary Patent (Vote is Today)
 * Stop Software Patents in Europe, Polish Government May Already Repeat Its Anti-ACTA Action
 * French National Assembly Views Unitary Patent as Illegal
 * December 11th an Opportunity for Politicians to Legitimise Software Patents in Europe
 * Attempts to Make Unitary Patent Mess Before Xmas
 * European Free Software Activists Fight Against Software Patents Loopholes: Unitary Patent and FRAND
 * Software Patents Through ‘Union’ in Europe
 * Europe to Push for Unitary Patent (Software Patents Loophole) at 7 PM CET Tonight
 * Betrayals in Europe Over Software Patents
 * Contact European Parliament Members Today to Stop Software Patents
 * Europe and New Zealand Share a Software Patents Problem As Such
 * Contacting Politicians to Stop Software Patents in Europe
 * Call for Action Against Software Patents in Europe
 * Fighting the Unitary Patent Like We Fought ACTA in Europe
 * European Council Slows Down Software Patents
 * Germany Against Software Patents
 * Europe’s Unitary Patent Siege
 * EU Unitary Patent: Status Update

2011

 * Software Patents: How Europe Lost Its Sovereignty
 * European Commission Betrays the European Public With Stance on OOXML and Unitary Patent
 * EPO and Other Lawyers-dominated Circles Push for Software Patenting
 * Patent Lawyers Push for Software Patents, Poorly
 * Commissioner Barnier: Enemy of European Development
 * Unitary Patent is Not a Done Deal
 * Software Patents in the EU Become a Central Concern Again
 * Software Patents Come to Europe Through the Back Door
 * New Reports Antagonise Patents Madness in Europe
 * ‘Pulling an ACTA’ to Legalise Software Patents in Europe
 * Lehne and the Polish Presidency Continue to March for Software Patents in Europe
 * Microsoft Pushing Hard for Software Patents in Europe While Halliburton Makes British/European Patent Lawyers Happy
 * Halliburton in a War With European Patent Law
 * EU Patent Failing to Materialise, But EPO and Politicians Begin to Overstep Their Line of Authority to Intervene
 * Polish EU Presidency Helps Global Patent Regime
 * Europe Patent Law Under Pressure, APRIL Gets Increasingly Involved
 * Techrights Commends Spain and Italy for Keeping Software Patents Out of Europe
 * Internal Market Commissioner Michel Barnier and Polish Presidency Named and Shamed for Patent Policy
 * Microsoft Lobbyists Still Push for Software Patents in Europe
 * FFII Warns About Latest Patent Threats in Europe
 * France and the United Kingdom Want to Drown in Software Patents Sea of Risk
 * Europe’s Software Patents Problem Summarised
 * Europe Has Judges Weigh in on Software Patents
 * Europe’s Peanut Gallery Wants Software Patents
 * Breaking European Patent Law With the Benelux Court Hack
 * Klaus-Heiner Lehne Blasted for Conflict of Interest, Florian Müller Shares His Interests
 * Elop-led Nokia and Bill Gates Lobby Europe Amid New Push Ushering in Software Patents
 * The FFII Undresses the European Union
 * The FFII Reports Bad Faith at the European Patent Office
 * ”In Europe Microsoft Have Been Putting Significant Resources in Backing The Setting Up Of the European Patent Office“
 * Triumph Against Software Patents in Europe as EU Treaty Brought Up
 * Spain is Still Against the EU Patent
 * European Court of Justice Can Defend European Software Companies From Patents
 * Europe Enters the Patents Cold War
 * April/End Software Patents/FFII Ask European Parliament to Postpone Enhanced Cooperation on Unitary Patent After CJEU Opinion
 * Patent Lobbying in Europe

2010

 * McCreevy’s Successors Are Getting Their Way With Software Patents in Europe
 * Using Financial Blackmail to Convince Spain to Allow Software Patents to Enter Europe
 * Microsoft Lobbyists Are Still Duping EU Politicians for Software Patents to be Legalised
 * New Push for Software Patents in Europe (Innovation Union) While UK’s Tim Berners-Lee Opposes (F)RAND
 * EU Plan to Potentially Welcome Software Patents is Finally Defeated
 * Michel Barnier Still Confused, Spreading Misconception About Patents and ”Competitiveness“
 * Michel Barnier Still Has an Agenda Hostile Towards European Software Developers
 * Microsoft’s Pressure for Software Patents in Europe Carries On
 * European Patent Law is Being Abducted by Big Business and Patent Lawyers
 * European Court of Justice Advocates General Says Pan-EU Patent Court Would Violate the Principles of EU Founding Treaties
 * EU: Advocate General on Community Patent and Software Patents Still at Stake
 * “EPO Still Operating in a Vacuum”
 * UPLS is on the Rocks
 * European Lesson About Novell’s Software Patents, Germany Seemingly Continues to Allow Software Patents
 * Who to Blame for Germany’s Dangerous Decision Regarding Software Patents
 * Siemens Betrays Germans by Legalising Software Patents in Europe
 * FFII and End Software Patents (ESP) Respond to Enlarged Board of Appeal (EBoA) Regarding Software Patentability
 * Patents Shred Europe’s Democracy to Pieces
 * Canonical Needs to Tell Ubuntu Users How Much It Paid MPEG-LA for Patent ‘Protection’
 * ‘IP’ People Want to Add Software Patents to New Zealand and Europe
 * Why Klaus-Heiner Lehne Lobbies for Software Patents (Money of Course)
 * USPTO Starts Rejecting Software Patents While Germany Mistakenly Overrides the Law and Approves Microsoft’s
 * EU Patent System Overrides European Court of Justice
 * Microsoft and Its Front Group, Association for Competitive Technology (ACT), Organise Software Patents Lobby Events in Europe
 * Patents Roundup: America, Europe and Asia Share a Problem with Software Patents
 * Patents Roundup: Escalations in Europe, SAP Pretense, CCIA Goes Wrong, and IETF Opens Up
 * How Patent Trolls Harm Free Software and How the European Parliament Plans to Make the Trolls Even Stronger
 * Microsoft Tries to Pollute Standards with Software Patents Where It is Illegal
 * Patents Roundup: Neelie Kroes and Microsoft Patents Revisited, Steve Ballmer Lobbies Obama on Patents, Apple Wants Linux Phones Embargoed (Using Patents)
 * Patents Roundup: Commission Sells Out to Microsoft; Apple and RIM Sued by Gates-backed Kodak
 * “Kroes Was Quite Clueless About Software Patents and UPLS,” So the Commission Made a Microsoft Patent Deal Last Week
 * OSS Watch Pretends That Microsoft’s Attacks on Free Software Do Not Exist

2009

 * ‘Microsoft Press’ Acknowledges Microsoft’s Free Software-Hostile EU Deal
 * European Commission Unable to Defend Free Software from Microsoft Patent Racket
 * Patents Roundup: Nokia and Apple Cross Swords, British Patent System Becomes Form of Tax, Israel Besieged by Software Patents
 * Microsoft Gets Its Way in the European Commission
 * Patent Imperialism Threatens Europe
 * McCreevy’s Suicidal Patent Battle to Harm Europe Glorified in Irish Press
 * FFII: Swedish Presidency Tries to Sneak Software Patents Into Europe
 * Tim Berners-Lee: “Software Patents Are a Terrible Thing”
 * ACTA is on Europe’s Agenda (Next Monday) as Patent Devils Lurk
 * Patent Tax and Microsoft Tax in Europe: An Update
 * Patents Roundup: Threat of Software Patents in Mexico, Sweden; Microsoft Still Fights with (and for) Software Patents
 * European Commission Keeps Getting Filled with Microsoft Cronies
 * The ‘Microsoft of Europe’ Instructs Oracle on Free Software
 * IBM and Open Forum Europe Address European Interoperability Framework (EIF) Fiasco
 * European Interoperability Framework (EIF) Corrupted by Microsoft et al, Its Lobbyists
 * Patents Roundup: Microsoft’s Software Patents Trick in the EU Revisited and Google Patents Spellchecker
 * Parties Behind Complaints Against Microsoft in EU Not Pleased
 * Glyn Moody on European Commission’s Inability to Defend Free Software in Face of Microsoft Lies
 * Microsoft Wins Free Software-Hostile Deal in Europe, Its Front Group ACT Pleased
 * FSFE Wants the European Commission to Stop Microsoft’s Racketeering
 * Microsoft Spreads Intellectual Monopoly Law in Europe and Arab States; EFF Takes on Acacia
 * European Commission Learns Whether Patents Harm Europe
 * Likewise: Microsoft Embraces and Extends Samba with Software Patents?
 * Microsoft Takes Software Patents Agenda Up a Notch
 * Microsoft Still Lobbies for Software Patents in Europe, via ACT/Jonathan Zuck
 * Why the United Patent Litigation System Could Bring Software Patents to Europe
 * Formal Complaint Against European Commission for Harbouring Microsoft Lobbyists
 * After 3 Months, Europe Lets Microsoft-Influenced EU Panel be Seen
 * Details of Microsoft’s Lobbying in Europe
 * Is the United Kingdom Immune to Software Patents? Continental Europe is… for Now… Sort of…
 * 2 Months and No Disclosure from the European Parliament
 * Knuth Tells Europe to Let Him “Innovate in Peace” (Without Software Patents)
 * Software Patents Want to Enter Europe from the Back Door
 * General Electric Joins Microsoft’s Fight Against Free Software
 * Charles McCreevy is Still Advancing Software Patents in Europe
 * Patents Roundup: Attack on Science, Lobby for Software Patents in EU and India, More Rebellion
 * Microsoft Unleashes Its Paid Guns to Fight European Regulators
 * Software Patents Roundup: Protests in the EU, OLPC Suffers, Microsoft Seeds More Patent FUD
 * The Latest Patent Comedy from Europe
 * Revolt Against Software Patents in Europe
 * Patents Roundup: Microsoft Likes Patent Deform, OIN to Strike Back, EU Still Besieged for Software Patents
 * The Question of Software Patents without Democracy
 * Red Hat, Microsoft, EU Lobbyists, and Software Patents
 * Does the European Commission Harbour a Destruction of Free/Open Source Software Workgroup?
 * European Patent Office Continues March for Software Patents
 * Is the EPO Selling Out to Microsoft?
 * European Open Source Software Workgroup a Total Scam: Hijacked and Subverted by Microsoft et al
 * Microsoft Uses Pressure Groups to Push Software Patents Into Europe
 * Patents Roundup: Disintegration, EU in a Limbo, Applecrosoft Patents and Scientists’ Rebellion
 * Patents Roundup: Acacia Extortion, European Lobby, and Failed Systems
 * Patents Roundup: Software Patents vs. Microsoft, Novell (And Others)

2008

 * Microsoft & Paid Lobbyists Attack Open Source in European Interoperability Framework
 * Latest Update on Microsoft’s Plans with Software Patents
 * European Patent Office: From Riot to Order?
 * Microsoft Lobbyist Jonathan Zuck Infiltrates EU Summit on Intellectual Monopolies
 * Failing SCO, Microsoft Eyes EU and Software Patents
 * Symbian is Not About Freedom, It’s About DRM and Software Patents (Update)
 * Novell’s Michael Meeks Gets Software Patent from the UK
 * Patents Roundup: Microsoft, Nokia, and McCreevy for Software Patents
 * Software Patents Riot Spreads to Four Continents
 * The Software Patents Situation and How It Affects Free Software
 * Microsoft Lobbyists Abound for Software Patents in Europe
 * Microsoft Proxies and Software Patents in Europe
 * EU Lobbyists Awaken, Patent Trolls Abound
 * Microsoft Still Insists Free Software Tax in Europe
 * IAM Denies Software Patents Knock on Europe’s Back Door
 * Software Patents in Europe and Microsoft’s Huge Lobbying Budget as of Late
 * Software Patents Roundup: EU’s Back Door; Microsoft Sued Again
 * Latest Attempt to Expand Software Patents to Europe; Microsoft Shenanigan Revisited
 * UK-IPO Approves Software Patent as Microsoft and its Lobbies Pressure for Software Patents in EU
 * Clarification on MySQL and Software Patents
 * Europe to Increase Use of Free Software, Lobbyists Try to Force Software Patents Onto Europe
 * Richard Stallman Explains Software Patents (Video)
 * Microsoft Lobbyists Are Again Hijacking Voices, Fighting for Software Patents
 * Microsoft, Siemens and Phillips Named for Software Patents in Europe
 * The State of Software Patents in the US, Resistance in Europe
 * Lobbyists Among the Causes for Software Patents in Europe
 * Trolltech + Nokia = Bad News
 * America Invades Britain (with Software Patents)

2007

 * The Absurdity of Software Patents Unseen in a Money-minded World
 * Europe Says No to Software Patents (Videos)
 * Is Sun Microsystems Against Software Patents?
 * It’s Not Over in Europe; WIPO Wants Some More Open Source Whipping
 * Europe, Intellectual Property, and Software Patent Stories
 * Might Europe Reverse Accidental Discrimination Against Samba?
 * The Agreement in Europe Could Drive Free Software Projects to Other Countries
 * Articles About Microsoft Dropping a GPL/Samba Bomb on Europe
 * Is Europe Being Assimilated to America, Patent-wise?
 * The Free Software Community Warns the EU About the Microsoft Agreement
 * The Fourth ‘Patent Deal’ was with Europe… and the Sixth Deal That Won’t be
 * More on Why the Agreement in Europe Simply Sucks!
 * A Victory in Europe for Microsoft’s Absurd Patents and So-called ‘Innovation’
 * Videos: EFF’s Patent Busting Leader, Patents in Europe, and More Patent FUD
 * No Software Patents in Europe (Bad Ideas Rejected Yet Again)
 * The Xenix Patent Front and Software Patents in Europe

c/f Michel Barnier