Anthony Howard and Software Patents
Mr Howard was present on 3rd June at the Council Working Group on Intellectual Property representing the UK Governement, and commenting for unlimited patentability in the name of the UK governement. It is pretty clear that Mr Howard, who works for the UKPO, has tight relations with the UK DTI ministry.
Mr Howard was present in the European Parliament to receive the Eurolinux Petition (150.000 signatures at that time) in the name of the Commission DG Internal Market, and argue that this petition was inacceptable because the Parliament had already voted on this matter in september 2003.
Mr Howard was present to a conference held in Brussels in 2002 at Renaissance Hotel were most participants were Patent Lawyers. Some participants asked a question about the definition of what is "technical", he answered that it was not possible to define what was technical and that courts should decide on a case by case basis about the interpretation of what and what is not technical.
In the absctract of http://www.european-patent-office.org/epidos/conf/pat_eac01/pdf/abstracts/4_howard.pdf, he he says:
"Such a situation has direct and negative effects on the proper functioning of the internal market, and prima facie constitutes justification for action at the level of the Community".
The definition of "computer-implemented invention" also contains this /*"prima facie"*/(means: "at first sight") - perhaps Howard was also writing the definition of CII in the commission proposal? 
On 13-09-2001, Howard issued a short Article on Cordis
He clearly agues that patents on software, like in the US are needed, and that it's mostly there already and just needs explanation.
Wrong points he gives:
- Current European laws on the patenting of software are both inconsistent and unclear.
Protecting software with copyrigt is weak
Points from the CEC consultation, which he cites correctly:
- Many feel that the technology is changing so quickly that the time required to make a patent application is better spent developing their next product.
- They also doubt whether patents would really give them any competitive advantage over large, established rivals.
According to a recent report(1) 175,000 software developers in over 20,000 companies create added value of DM50 billion a year in Germany alone, so the issue is a serious one. Last autumn, the Commission's Directorate-General for the Internal Market conducted a consultation exercise to inform the new Directive, which is intended to remove ambiguity and legal uncertainty.
(1) http://www.isi.fhg.de/iuk/dokumente/evasoft_abschlussbericht.pdf
