Philippe Loeve
CEO of STEM

Software technology is protected by copyright. Granting patents on software, or "computer-implemented inventions", means granting exclusive rights, not on technology, but on ideas and methods for using available technology. This goes in the exact opposite direction of everything we need in the computer field : More freely available standards, more interoperability between software of different sources, leading to more open competition, more real innovation, more custom-tailored solutions for specific needs, more valued added for the customer, more competitivity for user companies.

Officially opening the door to software patents would transform the software business into a legal minefield, barring small companies from introducing any new concept, which could disturb large, established companies.

Any suspicion of patent infringement could kill a company, too small to afford the costs of litigation against competitors with more financial power. Nobody would dare buy its products any more.

Large companies outside the software sector, since they increasingly depend on software for their business, would also be affected. All their innovative business projects would potentially be under threat.

European software business can defend itself by holding copyrights and by developing its capacity for innovation. It must not exhaust its energy in fighting insecurity, which software patents would fatally induce.