The European Commission now has presented a proposal for a Directive on the Patent Protection of Computer-Implemented Inventions ...
February 2002
The European Commission now has presented a proposal for a Directive on the Patent Protection of Computer-Implemented Inventions. The main points of the Directive can be summarized as follows:
- A computer-implemented invention is regarded as belonging to the field of technology.
- To be patentable, it is not sufficient that an invention belongs to the field of technology, but rather it also needs to make a 'technical contribution' to the prior art, and this technical contribution has to be non-obvious for the skilled person.
- Claims on computer programs per se or on computer program products or data carriers containing computer programs are not explicitly excluded, however, in the comments on the proposal the Commission states that it does not want to follow the approach of the EPO in this respect.
It should be noted that this proposal largely is in line with the current practice of the EPO, especially as far as the 'technical contribution approach' is concerned. This means that software inventions involving a non-obvious contribution to the prior art in the field of technology are patentable, however, business methods per se, or business methods implemented by a computer using conventional technology in an obvious manner will not be patentable, no matter how inventive the business method per se may be.
The proposal still has to be accepted by the Council of Ministers and by the European Parliament to become effective, and thereafter the member states of the European Union have to amend their national laws accordingly.
If you are interested in getting the full text of the proposal, or if you have any further questions, then please do not hesitate to contact us.
BETTEN & RESCH
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