European Commission
The European Commission is the institution of the European Union which has the most power to propose legislation.
Within the European Commission, questions of software patents are generally handled by the Directorate General (DG) for Internal Market. The commissioner for this department for the term 2009-2014 is Michel Barnier.
Previous Commissioners that dealt with software patents were Charlie McCreevy, 2004-2009, and Frits Bolkestein, 1999-2004.
DG Internal Market is generally seen as pro-software-patent.
EC says standards not patentable
- Main article: European Commission answer to P-010463-12
In January 2013, the EC wrote this in response to a parliamentary question:
If a standard includes a technology covered by a software patent in the US, the implementer of such a standard will need to license it to sell products in the US. If the implementer wishes to market in Europe, no such licence will be required.
Related pages on ESP Wiki
- European Union
- Michel Barnier on software patents (Barnier is Commissioner for Internal Market, 2009-2014)
- EU software patents directive
External links
- Mission letters from President Barroso to the Commissioners designate, for the 2009-2014 term
