Competitiveness Lie

Contrary to what software patent proponents claim, the legalization of software patents would put Europe's software companies at a disadvantage vis-a-vis other regions of the world.

It's a very weak point that the EU software industry were at a disadvantage if software is patentable in the USA and not in the EU. Patent law doesn't discriminate by the country of origin. If European companies want to obtain software patents in the USA, they can do so anytime. That possibility has absolutely nothing to do with the patentability or non-patentability of software in the EU. Likewise, American companies can obtain patents in Europe, and they have done that and are doing it all the time.

Most of the European software patents already belong to patent holders from outside of the EU. Before most European companies would even have many patents, a number of American and Asian companies would already be enforcing some of the countless European software patents that they own. Since almost all of the large software companies in the world are American companies, they would in fact get the biggest benefit out of extended patentability of software in the EU. They would use patents against their European counterparts, which tend to be SMEs.

Blindly following whatever America does is generally not advisable for Europe. It definitely makes sense to learn from the USA where it is more advanced and more successful. Software patents, however, are clearly a failure as even the Americans themselves realize to an increasing extent. It would be a mistake of major proportions if the EU officially allowed software patents after the Federal Trade Commission of the USA has already expressed concerns over their negative implications.

The true opportunity is to disallow software patents. That would protect Europe's software industry against overwhelming American competitors. It would prevent the loss of some of Europe's opportunities, such as in open-source software, to Asia. Europe's economy should save the costs of unproductive patent litigation, and should create a better investment climate by eliminating the patent risk. A more competitive software market in Europe will lead to lower software prices and higher levels of innovation, and that would be a competitive advantage for Europe's other industries, way beyond software and information technologies.

Click here to read about the lie that software patents would only be granted on major inventions