european information, communications and consumer electronics technology industry associations

European Information, Communications And Consumer Electronics Technology Industry Associations

The European Information, Communications and Consumer Electronics Technology Industry Associations (EICTA) is a Brussels-based European association of electronics and telecommunications industries. EICTA supports the proposed European Directive on the Patentability of Computer-Implemented Inventions http://www.eicta.org/1/NAEPIAIAPIFDMNEAEIAGLFGJ5G7DCYWDG3PDBK9E5T4T7G9DBDBK9DA71KM/EICTA/docs/DLS/CII081104-2004-LCC_CII-00004-03.pdf (pdf), but is not advocating that patents should be granted for software.

History

The European Information & Communications Technology Industry Association was founded in November 1999. EICTA finds its origins in two former European federations of industries associations: ECTEL and eurobit. In October 2001, the European Information & Communications Technology Industry Association merged with the EACEM, the European Association of Consumer Electronics Manufacturers, but kept its original acronymic name: EICTA.

Positions

EICTA supports the proposed EU Directive on the Patentability of Computer-Implemented Inventions, but is not advocating that patents should be granted for software. Mark MacGann, Director General of EICTA, said

"This industry (the ICT industry) is united in its rejection of patenting of software. Those who depict the draft directive on the patentability of computer implemented inventions as some sort of "software patent law" are at best misinformed and at worst dishonest, malicious and disrespectful of the European democratic process." http://www.patents4innovation.org/index.php/eng/news_article/european_technology_industry_launches_new_campaign_for_a_rational_european/

When EICTA uses the expression "patents for software", it might be understood that it refers to the relatively narrow concept of "inventions of no technical nature", as expressed slightly differently in one of their statements:

"Patents for software have never existed and should never exist in Europe because software is already protected by copyright law. Patents will only be granted for inventions of a technical nature. These include inventions in medical equipment, cars, mobile phones, aircraft, televisions, voice- and image-recognition devices, digital rights management solutions, and countless other examples." http://www.patents4innovation.org/index.php/eng/news_article/european_technology_industry_launches_new_campaign_for_a_rational_european/

The term "technical" is not defined in the Commission and Council versions of above-mentioned directive, however. Since the European Patent Office considers e.g. "processing image data" and "reducing memory usage" as "technical" http://www.iusmentis.com/patents/businessmethods/epc/#TheexclusionofArticle522and3EPC, several third parties --including a recent report written for the European Parliament http://www.ffii.org/~jmaebe/epecosci0502/SoftwarePatent.pdf-- have voiced the concern that the effects of the positions that EICTA supports may be much broader than it admits.