Patent CP and national laws Dr Ali Al-Fatlawi

To what extent may the patent rules be applied to CPs? By investigating the legal and judicial position of patents in relation to CPs within a national and an international context one may ascertain whether a patent system could protect CPs, or in other words, whether the patent rules, in theory, could be applied to CPs The case law system in the UK sought to consider a CP as a supporting assistant factor in the process of invention because the UK PA 1977 law prohibits a CP as such from being granted a patent.

National approach The USA:the statutory framework in the USA has made no specific reference to CPs as a form of subject matter, whether under the Patent Act 1952, Title 35 USC, section 101 or the America Invents Act The judicial position:First of all, the judicial position in the USA considered that not every method is patentable under the patent law

A CP patent in Japanese policy the requirements for a CP to fulfil the article are: (1) The computer program should involve a technological idea; (2) The idea should have an industrial use; and (3) The invention should be novel.

A CP patent in European policy 1- The legal position:the legislative framework of the EPC does not permit a CP as such to be patented according to paragraphs 2 and 3 which include the phrase “as such” through stipulation that: “Paragraph 2 shall exclude patentability of the subject-matter or activities referred to in that provision only to the extent to which a European patent application or European patent relates to such subject-matter or activities as such.”. “computer programs as such” are excluded from patentability due to their having no technical character

The Judicial position a CP as such which is obviously excluded from the patent system because; a)A CP as such is not an invention b)It does not have a technical character c)The EPO assumes that “software” as such is the opposite of “technical software”. d)Finally, a CP is an intangible thing, as mentioned earlier in chapter 2, which is only information and the patent system does not protect information.