Artur Fischer from plastic materials (Polyamide) and is available in various shapes and sizes since 1958 (see Wall plug). Fischer held over 1100 patents and overtook Thomas Alva Edison, who held 1093 patents. Fischer also held 5867 trade rights and invented fischertechnik. Further inventions are (bone-)plugs for fixing bone fractures and one of Fischer’s most recent inventions is a gadget that makes it possible to hold and cut the top off an egg of any size. He got started on the problem when a hotel owner complained to him that his guests, on opening their boiled eggs for breakfast, always made a
Proposed directive on the patentability of computer-implemented inventions adapt its practice of granting patents on computer-implemented inventions under certain conditions, according to its interpretation of the European Patent Convention and its Implementing Regulations. Supporters of the proposed directive included Microsoft, IBM, Hewlett-Packard and the European Patent Office. The European Information and Communication Technology Association (EICTA) stated that the directive "is extremely important for the future of innovation in Europe as it concerns two-thirds of all inventions in the European hi-tech industry". This position was characterised by opponents of software patents as "dominated by patent lawyers from the patent arms of large corporate members", "most of which qualifying as