On May 12, 2010, the Enlarged Board of Appeal issued its opinion in case G3/08 (Opinion of the Enlarged Board of Appeal in G3/08).

The ultimate conclusion drawn by the Enlarged Board of Appeal, is that the referral by the President of the European Patent Office does not fullfill the requirements of Article 112(1)(b) EPC, and is therefore not admissable.

One week ago, the European Patent Office summoned Amazon for Oral Proceedings in the appeal proceedings for its infamous 1-Click Ordering patent application. The Oral Proceedings are scheduled for 13 October 2010 2 December 2010 27 januari 2011 and will be held at the Erhardtstraße-premises in Munich. The Oral Proceedings are public.

Patent Absurdity The Free Software Foundation, producer Jamie King, and director Luca Lucarini created a documentary style film titled Patent Absurdity on the patentability of software. People being interviewed are notable opponents of software patents such as Richard Stallman, James Bessen, and Michael Meurer. The only proponents being given attention are the inventors of Bilsi and their patent attorney. This produces a rather unilateral view of the issue of software patents, which does the discussion no justice.

While Europe is waiting for a decision in the case G3/08 before the Enlarged Board of Appeal of the EPO and the US is waiting for a decision in re Bilski, the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences of the USPTO has issued a precedential opinion (444.34 kB) on the patentability of algorithms.  — Read more »

In his amicus curiae brief of 26 April 2009, Mr. M. Schulz contested the impartiallity of the Board because one of its members had officially and publicly given his opinion on matters concerning the patentability of computer-implemented inventions. According to the Enlarged Board, it is established case law of the Boards of Appeal, the Enlarged Board and the national courts of the member states, that a board member expressing his view on legal issues in a previous occasion can not lead to the conclusion of doubts as to impartiallity. As, once a judge has been lawfully appointed, he is deemed to act in good faith and is presumed impartial until proven otherwise, the Enlarged Board has decided to leave the composition of the Enlarged Board unchanged.  — Read more »

The European Patent Academy has provided two e-learning modules on the patentability of computer-implemented inventions, that provide a nice introduction into the patentability of computer-implemented inventions.