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Ghidini, Gustavo; Arezzo, Emanuela --- "One, None, or a Hundred Thousand: How Many Layers of Protection for Software Innovations?" [2008] ELECD 256; in Drexl, Josef (ed), "Research Handbook on Intellectual Property and Competition Law" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2008)

Book Title: Research Handbook on Intellectual Property and Competition Law

Editor(s): Drexl, Josef

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781845420475

Section: Chapter 14

Section Title: One, None, or a Hundred Thousand: How Many Layers of Protection for Software Innovations?

Author(s): Ghidini, Gustavo; Arezzo, Emanuela

Number of pages: 27

Extract:

14 One, none, or a hundred thousand:
how many layers of protection for software
innovations?
Gustavo Ghidini and Emanuela Arezzo*



1 Introduction
In 2002, the European Commission embarked on the arduous project of draft-
ing a Proposal for a Directive (hereinafter PD) on the patentability of
computer-implemented inventions (so-called CIIs).1
The PD was officially aimed at harmonizing different trends that had
emerged in national patent systems and creating a uniform regime following,
more or less, the blueprint drawn up by the European Patent Office (EPO) case
law.2 Such discrepancies within (software) patentability trends in Europe were
considered a further obstacle towards the creation of a uniform patent policy
in the EU and, consequently, discouraging the recourse to patent, especially by
small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).3
Quite rightly, the European Commission thought that uniformity in the
law would enhance legal certainty and thus confidence in patents as a valu-
able instrument to foster progress in such a prominent sector of the European
economy.
At the same time, however, the PD reflected a `defensive' concern: the
massive number of software patents (especially those concerning business


* This chapter reflects opinions and ideas mutually shared by the authors.
However, sections 2, 4 and 5 can be ascribed to Emanuela Arezzo, while the remain-
ing paragraphs are attributed to Gustavo Ghidini.
1 See the first Commission Proposal of 20 February 2002 for a Directive on the
patentability of computer-related inventions presented by the European Commission,
COM(2002) 92 ...