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overview of the unitary patent problemoverview of the unitary patent problemPosted Dec 12, 2012 2:20 UTC (Wed) by coriordan (guest, #7544)Parent article: FSFE: European Parliament adopts unitary patent
I've made a quick overview of why this is a problem:
http://news.swpat.org/2012/12/unitary-patent/
I'll probably flesh it out over the next day or two. The main issue is that patent acquisition and litigation becomes much more efficient and lucrative, so Europe is going to have US levels of patent problems.
(There's also a risk that the European Parliament has given away its ability to legislate on whether software is patentable. That would be a complete catastrophe, but I haven't checked the final text.)
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overview of the unitary patent problem Posted Dec 12, 2012 4:59 UTC (Wed) by Cyberax (✭ supporter ✭, #52523) [Link]
It's not so simple. An injunction of a German patent court right could cause a problem for ANY company doing business in EU. An enterprising troll can sue a company in several countries, and it's entirely possible that a troll can win a lawsuit in just one country.
Having a single patent court at least makes it easier to defend against the patents. So it's not ALL bad.
overview of the unitary patent problem Posted Dec 12, 2012 12:25 UTC (Wed) by coriordan (guest, #7544) [Link]
The problem you mention is theoretical. Patent holders weren't doing that, so "solving" that problem isn't a win.
Patent holders were picking the most friendly of the large countries (usually Germany, sometimes the UK) and suing there. Germany and the UK both have specialised patent courts. Judges from these courts will be obvious candidates to sit on the new court. So the worst parts of the old system are going to become the rule for the whole of Europe under the new system.
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