ACT Statement on European Parliament Vote on Patents/EPLA

“Today the European Parliament took an important step toward making the patent system more accessible and predictable for the thousands of ICT SMEs that rely on it. ACT commends the Parliament’s commitment to the EPLA process that will inevitably lead to lower litigations costs and decreased complexity.”

“Perhaps most important, however, the Parliament found common ground with innovative SMEs and expressed its concerns about “undesirable patents in various fields,” rather than adopting the rhetoric of the anti-patent activists. The real answer to preventing undesirable patents while increasing innovation is to improve quality, not ban the patentability of certain types of technology.”

Jonathan Zuck, President of The Association for Competitive Technology (ACT)

The Association for Competitive Technology (ACT) is an international education and advocacy group for the technology industry. Focusing on the interests of small and mid-size entrepreneurial technology companies, ACT advocates for a “Healthy Tech Environment” that promotes innovation, competition and investment. ACT has been active on issues such as intellectual property, international trade, e-commerce, privacy, internet policy and antitrust. ACT represents more than 3000 software developers, systems integrators, IT consulting and training firms, and e-businesses from around the world.