Are Computer Programs patentable?
With the advent of the Internet and the growth in IT, companies are seeking to obtain patent protection for computer programs. Patents of computer programs are more readily obtainable in the USA and Japan than in the UK and the rest of Europe. The EPO and the UK Patent Office only granted patents for computer programs where the program brought about a technical effect. The Directive on the patentability of computer-implemented inventions (CII Directive) was rejected on 6 July 2005 by the European Parliament during Second Reading. It was intended to maintain the status quo of permitting the patenting of certain types of inventions involving the use of computer programs, providing they made a ‘technical contribution’ and providing they also met the normal patentability requirements of being new, inventive and having industrial applicability http://www.patent.gov.uk/media/pressrelease/2005/0607a.htm and http://www.rtcoopers.com/software_patents.php However, the UK Patent Office will accep
