Software Patents - Boon or Bane for Europe?

Software Patents - Boon or Bane for Europe?
Author: Andreas Grosche
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release: 2010
Genre:
ISBN:

Software patents have been making the headlines recently. In the EU, after the European Parliament has rejected a controversial proposed 'Directive on the patentability of computer-implemented inventions' in July 2005, the debate is far from over: The Commission continues to pursue policies expanding the reach of intellectual property rights, while the controversies have exposed issues that call for a more cautious approach, demanding justification for further extension of IP - difficult to provide in general, and probably impossible with respect to computer software, as the evolution of information technology reveals fundamental incompatibilities with the patent system: Thorough analysis of the historical development of IP as well as that of computers and their programs, both as a science and with its economic implications as an industry, combined with the international comparison of experiences with (and alternatives to) patents covering software, provide convincing reasons to keep patent law within its established confines supported by the European Patent Convention, separating patentable subject matter from unpatentable mental acts, business methods and mathematics.

Software and Patents in Europe

Software and Patents in Europe
Author: Philip Leith
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2011-06-30
Genre: Law
ISBN: 9780521329620

The computer program exclusion from Article 52 of the European Patent Convention (EPC) proved impossible to uphold as industry moved over to digital technology, and the Boards of Appeal of the European Patent Organisation (EPO) felt emboldened to circumvent the EPC in Vicom by creating the legal fiction of 'technical effect'. This 'engineer's solution' emphasised that protection should be available for a device, a situation which has led to software and business methods being protected throughout Europe when the form of application, rather than the substance, is acceptable. Since the Article 52 exclusion has effectively vanished, this text examines what makes examination of software invention difficult and what leads to such energetic opposition to protecting inventive activity in the software field. Leith advocates a more programming-centric approach, which recognises that software examination requires different strategies from that of other technical fields.

Information Technology Law

Information Technology Law
Author: Uta Kohl
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 746
Release: 2016-08-25
Genre: Law
ISBN: 1136006486

The fifth edition of Information Technology Law continues to be dedicated to a detailed analysis of and commentary on the latest developments within this burgeoning field of law. It provides an essential read for all those interested in the interface between law and technology and the effect of new technological developments on the law. The contents have been restructured and the reordering of the chapters provides a coherent flow to the subject matter. Criminal law issues are now dealt with in two separate chapters to enable a more focused approach to content crime. The new edition contains both a significant amount of incremental change as well as substantial new material and, where possible, case studies have been used to illustrate significant issues. In particular, new additions include: • Social media and the criminal law; • The impact of the decision in Google Spain and the ‘right to be forgotten’; • The Schrems case and the demise of the Safe Harbour agreement; • The judicial reassessment of the proportionality of ICT surveillance powers within the UK and EU post the Madrid bombings; • The expansion of the ICANN gTLDs and the redesigned domain name registration and dispute resolution processes.

The Politics of Digital India

The Politics of Digital India
Author: Pradip Ninan Thomas
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 150
Release: 2019-07-11
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0199097852

Transforming India into a digital state has been an objective of successive governments in India. However, the digital, by its very nature, is a capricious, multi-dimensional entity. Its operationalization across multiple sectors in India has highlighted the fact that the digital compact with publics in India is a two-edged sword. On the one hand, devices such as mobile phones have enabled access and efficiencies, and on the other, they have increased the scope for surveillance capitalism and the expansion of governmentality. The digital is at the same time a resource, commodity, and process that is absolutely fundamental to most if not all productive forces across multiple sectors. As a part of the Media Dynamics in South Asia series, this volume explores the making of digital India and specifically deals with the contradictions of an imperfect democracy, internal compulsions, and external pressures that continue to play crucial roles in the shaping of the same. Mindful of the key roles played by political economy and context and based on conversations with theory and practice, it makes a case for critical understanding of the digital embrace in India.

Handbook of law and economics

Handbook of law and economics
Author: A. Mitchell Polinsky
Publisher: Elsevier
Total Pages: 981
Release: 2007
Genre: Droit
ISBN: 0444531203

"Law can be viewed as a body of rules and legal sanctions that channel behavior in socially desirable directions - for example, by encouraging individuals to take proper precautions to prevent accidents or by discouraging competitors from colluding to raise prices. The incentives created by the legal system are thus a natural subject of study by economists. Moreover, given the importance of law to the welfare of societies, the economic analysis of law merits prominent treatment as a subdiscipline of economics. This two volume Handbook is intended to foster the study of the legal system by economists. The two volumes form a comprehensive and accessible survey of the current state of the field. Chapters prepared by leading specialists of the area. Summarizes received results as well as new developments."--[Source inconnue].