Rethinking the European ICT agenda
In early September 2004, PriceWaterhouseCoopers published a report titled "Bijlage: Aanbieding rapport Rethinking the European ICT agenda" (or "Rethinking the European ICT Agenda: Ten ICT-breakthroughs for reaching Lisbon goals").
Point #5 of the report discussed software patents, focussing on the threat they pose.
Please help us find a copy of this
There are two original URLs, neither of which work:
file/pwc_rethinking_european_ict_agenda.pdf.
Quotes
Here are parts of the report which were quoted on websites
On the European ICT industry, the "current discussion on the patent on software" (represents a) "particular threat".
- "The mild regime of IP protection in the past has led to a very innovative and competitive software industry with low entry barriers. A software patent, which serves to protect inventions of a non-technical nature, could kill the high innovation rate. However, opinions on software patent in its current proposed form vary a lot. Many large companies operating on a global scale, including European ones, seem to be in favour of a software patenting regime. But most small enterprises are strongly opposed.
- "Only very few European companies have prepared themselves for the consequences of a software patent regime. It raises the question how the introduction of the European software patent interacts with a European strategy based on widespread use of ICT's."
Source: The Register: PwC: software patents threat to Europe
Other info
FFII's website says[1]: "Dutch text pointing to English PDF to which we can not link directly because the links to it are session-based, see item 342 on page 50"