Software Legal Protection: Shaping the EU Software Patent

Abstract

The EU software patent could be the long awaited resolve to an extensive debate around software. The resolution should be based on the understanding of the copyright and patent basics, the legal conflict between territoriality and the internet, the experience of the existing US software patent, and the identification of the interested parties. In 2013 EU patents with unitary effect (for inventions) were approved and starting 1st of January 2014 the Regulations defining the patent framework have effect in the 25 of the 27 member states. This means it is the best moment to ‘strike’ with a fresh new initiative supporting the EU software patent. The paper’s objective is to prove that the patent could become the most effective method for the legal protection of software in the EU. This conclusion will be based on an analysis of software copyright versus software-patent distinctions, existing models of software patents (the US), interests of the stakeholders (big companies, SME, Open-Source promoters) and the previous rejected EU software patent directive.