(Not strictly on-topic, but nevertheless of likely interest to many
readers of this list.)
According to the (online) Wall Street Journal, the board of
administration of the European Patents Office has voted to permit
software patents, by a 10-9 vote. Opposition to the change came from
the Germans, the French, and the British; smaller countries, such as
Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and Cyprus, supported it. A German
official is quoted as saying "We would have problems with the U.S.
tendency to patent everything that can be patented. That would stifle
innovation and cause a glut of litigation."
A final decision will be made in November.
--Steve Bellovin
