[d@DCC] RE: Looking forward to reading chapter 26 of patent manual by end of next week.

From: Russell McOrmond <russell _-at-_ flora.ca>
To: General Copyright Discussions <discuss (at) digital-copyright.ca>
Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2004 17:19:41 -0400 (EDT)

This is further to http://www.digital-copyright.ca/discuss/3845

Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2004 17:17:06 -0400 (EDT)
From: Russell McOrmond
To: LouisPierre Riel
Cc: Susan Bincoletto, CorrespondenceMinister@ic.gc.ca,
     Tara Rapley
Subject: RE: Looking forward to reading chapter 26 of patent manual by end 
    of next week.

Copying Susan Bincoletto, who may be best positioned to forward this on to
the relevant person in Patent Policy.  Copying Tara Rapley for her
records.

  I will be sending a copy (with email addresses removed) to
http://www.digital-copyright.ca/discuss/ for archival purposes.

On Wed, 20 Oct 2004 Louis-Pierre Riel wrote:

> These chapters are currently under a consultation period with the patent
> agents. The public release of this chapter will follow that consultation
> period closing at the end of Nov. 2004. The public release will be most
> probably around Dec. 20, 2004.

  I am wondering why there is a delay in publishing a draft?  It does not
need to be marked as final.  Is there no room for input on this new
chapter from those whose activities will will be governed by it?

  When I asked earlier about ATIP requests to get this information public
I was told by Tara Rapley (Senior Advisor, Information & Privacy Rights
Administration, Industry Canada) that it would be published in October.

> As I have already mentioned, the Patent Office addresses only issue
> relating to the examination practice based on the Patent Act and Rules,
> and on the Canadian jurisprudence. Any question of public policy should
> be addressed to Intellectual Property Policy Directorate of Industry
> Canada.

  I am aware that the position of CIPO is that this new chapter will be
"based on the Patent Act and Rules, and on the Canadian jurisprudence".  
Europeans were told the same thing by the EPO as this patent office pushed
to "harmonize" patent policy in Europe to the practices of the EPO that
were in direct contradiction with the European Patent Convention (EPC)  
that created the EPO.

  When I read an early draft of this chapter in preparation for
http://www.flora.ca/patent2003/ I saw signs in Canada of the problems that
had been observed in Europe. Once this chapter is publicly published we
will better be able to determine whether it recommends ways to word pure
software patent applications to get around the act and jurisprudence
(Schlumberger).

  Patent offices worldwide have been expanding the scope of patent policy
to include subject matter such as information processes (software,
business models, etc) that simply could not have been considered in the
drafting of the act.  Expansion of the interpretation of patentable
subject matter to include these new areas is new policy being set by the
patent office.  While each of these patent offices have claimed that they
were just interpreting the relevant acts and court decisions, in each case
a radical change in patent policy was taking place.  These changes were
happening without the required policy consultations and sound economic
analysis that should be required for such changes.

Thank you.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Russell McOrmond 
> Sent: Wednesday, October 20, 2004 3:17 PM
> To: Riel, Louis-Pierre: #CIPO - OPIC
> Cc: Correspondence Minister/Correspondance Ministre: OCS
> Subject: Looking forward to reading chapter 26 of patent manual by end
> of next week.
> 
> 
> 
> In the article: http://www.digital-copyright.ca/node/view/511
> 
> NoSoftwarePatents.com Launches Campaign Against Software Patents in the EU
> 
> I included:
> 
> The 20 October 2004 press release includes:
> 
>     "Software patents are used for anti-competitive purposes, stifle 
>      innovation, and would cost the entire economy and society dearly"
> 
>   In Canada we await the promised public publishing this month of Chapter
> 26 of the Manual of Patent Office Practices drafted for the review of
> computer implemented inventions and business methods.
> 
> 

-- 
 Russell McOrmond, Internet Consultant: <http://www.flora.ca/> 
 Telling my story: The Life of one Hacker
 Early draft, looking for comments and corrections of my memory.
 http://www.flora.ca/russell/drafts/life-of-hacker.html
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