Das Scheitern des Vorschlags für eine EU-Richtlinie zur 'Patentierbarkeit computerimplementierter Erfindungen' : Einige Erklärungen und eine Bewertung

The Failure of the Proposal for an EU Directive 'On the Patentability of Computer-Implemented Inventions:' Some Explanations and an Assessment

On July 6th, 2005, as many as 648 of the 732 members of the European Parliament (89 %) voted against the heavily contested proposal for an EU directive 'on the patentability of computer-implemented inventions.' While this impressively clear result - which received much attention throughout Europe - would itself justify a closer look at this political process, the case is even more interesting from a second point of view: it provides an example for the ongoing conflict over an important power resource in the 'information age,' namely intellectual property rights.
The debate about intellectual property rights has attracted the attention of political scientists in general and students of international political economy in particular for quite some time now. This research suggests two things. Firstly, there is much at stake since the (private) ownership of knowledge and ideas is one of the central issues of the 'information society.' Secondly, while it is little surprising that there were sceptical views towards the directive, it comes as a surprise that its opponents were actually able to mobilize strong resistance against it and to get their position on the agenda of the decision makers. In most preceding cases following the signing of the TRIPs agreement within the WTO framework, it had rather been the supporters of a strong intellectual property rights regime who prevailed.
The the paper analyses the power struggle over the EU directive on 'patentability of computer implemented inventions' through the lens of the arguments that were raised in the debates over the three faces of power (Polsby/Dahl, Bachrach/Baratz and Lukes). The analysis suggests conclusions both with a view to the the particular case as well as in regard to more general points. As for the case itself, it will become clear that while the rejection of the proposed directive was a huge success for the anti-"software-patent" groups, the outcome is still more ambiguous than the overwhelming parliamentary majority suggests.