Hi Richard,
Currently, I don't think they can actively be enforced in Europe.
This is a sentiment I've heard in the free software community several
times since the European Parliament vote last July. However, I think
it's unrealistically optimistic. Note that the European Parliament
voted to reject a new directive on software patents, rather than
voting for a directive which said that software patents were invalid
in European law. To quote from the FFII press release at the time of
the vote:
"It marks the end of an attempt by the European Commission and
governmental patent officials to impose detrimental and legally
questionable practises of the European Patent Office (EPO) on the
member states. However, the problems created by these practices remain
unsolved."
Cheers!
Daniel
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