EU Close to New Directive on Patentability of Software-Related Inventions

A committee of the European Union (EU) recently reported on its review of a proposed directive concerning the patentability of software-related inventions. According to the report, its general aim is to "counter any extension of the scope of patent protection for software while resisting the call to exclude patent protection altogether", in response to the liberalizing trend of the European Patent Office ("EPO"). The report underlined the need for an inventive step as a patentability criterion, while retaining EPO's requirement in the case of computer-related inventions for a "technical contribution" to the state of the art, and makes the latter a necessary condition for the former. It will be insufficient for an invention merely to belong to a field of technology of its very nature; rather, its claims must contain non-obvious features for patentability. Business method inventions are singled out in the report for treatment: the use of a computer in an otherwise non-inventive business method will not render the invention patentable. In this respect, the directive will run counter to the practice of the US Patent Office of granting patents for "business methods". For the report, see: http://makeashorterlink.com/?Z23F13915 Summary prepared by: Peter K. Wang