The EICTA press release can be found via the EICTA front page
Please look for press releases 2003.
This press release uses wordings from a letter signed by CEOs of large telecommunication and consumer electronics companies.
We have already written a static page which rejects most this FUD, but EICTA has added further rhetorical elements to it.
Feel free to insert some comments in between which we may use for the static version of this EICTA PR.
- Industry Calls on Council to Correct Damage Done by the European
Parliament -- European R&D Will Be Jeopardised If CII Patents Are Eliminated Brussels, 26 November 2003 - The Council will react under Irish Presidency to the vote of the European Parliament on the proposed directive on the patentability of computer-implemented inventions (CII) in September 2003. The Competitiveness Council has taken the last minute decision not to pronounce itself on the proposal under Italian Presidency today and tomorrow. Given the negative effect which the Parliament's recommendations would have on European research and development as well as competitiveness, industry calls on the Council to distance itself from the position the Parliament has assumed in the first reading of the directive proposal. EICTA, the European Information, Communications and Consumer Electronics Technology Industry Association warned that the outcome of the vote in the European Parliament on 24 September would have devastating consequences for industry in Europe. Andy Mattes, EICTA President and Member of the Siemens Group Board of Information and Communication Networks confirms that "the European Parliament's version of the directive would diminish virtually to vanishing point the effective patent protection now available to Europe's world-leading telecommunications industry". It would according to him also have equally disastrous consequences for other EICTA members in sectors such as the computer and software industries and consumer electronics. AGORIA, the multisector federation for the technology industry in Belgium, confirms that especially for a country like Belgium with many small and medium size companies and very dependent on export, this outcome will be really harmful. Christian Vanhuffel, Vice-President of EICTA and General Manager of AGORIA states that many of Agoria's members active in the automotive, transport, domestic appliances, medical instruments and machine tools sectors are increasingly reliant on software-related innovation. He says: "they, too, would suffer if Parliament's amendments were adopted." The Directive as originally proposed by the Commission was intended to maintain the status quo in Europe based on current best practice which has rewarded inventors with over 30,000 CII patents while permitting the growth of a flourishing open source software movement in Europe. SMEs, research institutions and large enterprises all utilize the patent system to protect their continuing innovation. Parliament's amendments would completely undo the delicate balance intended in the Commission's original proposal, and developed both in the "General Approach" endorsed by the Council in November 2002, and in the report of the European Parliament's Legal Affairs Committee. Parliament's amendments further suggest that Europe is ready to disregard its international obligations under the TRIPS Agreement. Moreover, they would change the legal climate in Europe suddenly and dramatically. This would send an immediate message to the rest of the world that the legal framework necessary for attaining a viable European Information Society has become unstable and unpredictable. EICTA calls on the forthcoming Irish Council Presidency to continue work on a common position based on the consensus approach arrived at under the Danish Presidency in November 2002 and largely reflected in the work of the European Parliament's Legal Affairs Committee. AGORIA counts on the support of the Belgian Minister of Economic Affairs. If the damaging amendments proposed by Parliament are not corrected in Council, the preferred option would be withdrawal of the proposal by the Commission. This would leave Europe with its status quo on patent protection, without harmonization - not an ideal situation, but certainly preferable to the dramatic reduction of patent protection entailed by the European Parliament's current position. EICTA was founded in 1999 and merged with EACEM, the European Consumer Electronics Manufacturers Association, in 2001. It now combines 45 major multinational companies as direct members and 31 national associations from 21 European countries. EICTA altogether represents more than 10.000 companies all over Europe with more than 1.5 million employees and revenues of over 190 billion Euro. AGORIA is a multisector federation representing companies active in 9
branches of industry: metals & materials, metal products, plastics, mechanical & mechatronical engineering, electrical engineering & electronics, ICT, automotive, aerospace and defence & security. Together, these sectors constitute the technological industry, and the federation provides collective and individual services for 1,300 member companies on a daily basis. Agoria's main mission is to improve the socio-economic environment in which these companies are active. For further information,
EICTA: Leo Baumann +32-2-706 84 77 leo.baumann@eicta.org AGORIA: Filip Geerts +32-0475 62 06 62 filip.geerts@agoria.be
Leo Baumann was until recently the assistant of Angelika Niebler colleague of Dr. Joachim Wuermeling in charge of much of the policy formulation in the EPP (conservative block in Europarl).
See also our EICTA documentation page which also links to an ael wiki page that debunks some of the membership claims of EICTA and Agoria.
Most importantly, in big industry associations such as EICTA, patent matters are traditionally decided by special patent commissions in which only patent lawyers from large corporations participate. The details of the decision process in one of EICTA's member organisations, BITKOM have been documented.
The argumentation of these papers usually relies on no evidence, no reasoning, only false representation claims. Apart from masquerading as "the industry", the patent lawyers who write these statements have no ideas to rely on.