About 8 ILUGC members attended the meeting. There were 2 from FSUG Bangalore. At
the start of the meeting we were told that issues related to software patents
will be discussed in a separate meeting! The meeting date was not announced. We
were asked check the website.
But we did get a clarity on what this Manual was all about. It was clearly
stated that the document did not have any legal binding. It was just a handbook
for patent examiners and people who would like to apply for patents. The
handbook just happens to contain the interpretation of the law. (And has a wrong
interpretation of course.) Anyways we will have to get this fixed, to avoid
unnecessary litigations.
The contents of the manual itself was questioned during the meeting. Some
suggested that the manual should only contain procedures of patent application,
rather than such detailed interpretations of the patent law. It was also
discussed that the manual will be rewritten completely, possibly removing
elaborate interpretations of the patent law, scaling it down to 100 pages or
so.
Regards,
Vijay
