I knew that the EU did not permit software patents and I thought that the EU
position would extend to the UK courts. I knew that the European Patent Office
issued software patents, but I thought they were not recognised by the English
courts. The UK patent office is the official government institution issuing
patents.
The European Patent Office was set up to administer the
European Patent Convention. However, the convention was not widely signed.
Unfortunately, the signatories that they were able to get do accept the EPO
Patents, including the UK.
Now look at what Computer World in New
Zealand had to say in the thread just below this one.These two words
‘as such’ are more important than you might think. They’re kind of like the two
words you might find on a Tui billboard. Following decades of legal wrangling in
Europe, the European Patent Office (which is responsible for – and makes money
from – the issuing of patents) determined that those two words basically mean
that while computer programs as such aren't patentable, anything that is
implemented in or by a computer program is. Say
what?
--- Regards
Ian Al
Software Patents: It's the disclosed functions in the patent, stupid! [ Reply to This | Parent | # ]
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