Bundestag: “Stop granting software patents”

Germany’s Bundestag (Parliament) has adopted a joint motion against software patents, urging the German government to take steps to limit the granting of patents on computer programs.

In the resolution (German, PDF), the Parliament says software patents restrict developers from exercising their copyright privileges, including the right to distribute their programs as free software. Patents help to create monopolies in the software market, as well as hurt innovation and job creation. The Parliament calls on the German government to ensure free software development is not restricted by patents.

“Software patents are harmful in every way and are useless at promoting innovation,” says Karsten Gerloff, President of the Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE). “We urge the German government to act on this resolution as soon as possible and relieve software developers from the needless patent-related costs and risks under which they are currently suffering.”

Software patents are illegal under the European Patent Convention. However, the European Patent Office has granted tens of thousands of patents covering software, as a result of which software developers constantly risk being accused of patent infringement, giving rise to legal uncertainty which is costly for large companies and potentially deadly for smaller ones.

The Bundestag’s resolution reminds the German government that, under the EU’s Computer Programs Directive, software is covered by copyright, not patents. It calls on the government to put the directive’s “copyright approach”
into practice finally and to make German law more definite on this matter. It also points out that restrictions imposed by patents are incompatible with most widely used free software licences.