EPO

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.

Apparently, the EPO has made available a brochure providing some information on software patents on its website last year. The brochure explains how the EPO deals with software patents. The brochure appears to be aiming at the general public.

The latest issue (Janary 2009) of the Official Journal of the EPO, contains a Communication announcing a deadline for submitting third party observations (an amicus curiae brief). The deadline set is the end of April. Submissions should be addressed to the Registry of the Enlarged Board of Appeal.

The complete Communication is attached to this article.

Recent diverging decisions by the Boards of Appeal of the European Patent Office have led the President of the EPO, Mrs. Alison BRIMELOW, to refer a point of law to the Enlarged Board of Appeal.

The referral, dated Wednesday 22 October 2008, invites the Enlarged Board of Appeal to clarify how the exclusion for programs for computers in Article 52(2) and (3) EPC is to be interpreted. More specifically, the questions referred relate to the relevance of the claim category for the applicability of the exclusion, to clarify when a claim as a whole falls under the exclusion, to what extend individual features of the claim contribute to the technical character, and a question concerning the activity (the programming) underlying the resulting (computer) product.

This article contains a selection of sections from the “Board of Appeal and Enlarged Board of Appeal Case Law 2007”, as published in Special Edition Number 6 of the Official Journal of the European Patent Office. The selected sections all bear relevance to the subject of computer-implemented inventions. The sections have only been slightly reformatted for this site; the contents has been left untouched. This year only a single chapter has been selected, namely the most obvious one: Part II, Chapter I.A Patentable Inventions.

This article contains a selection of sections from the “Board of Appeal and Enlarged Board of Appeal Case Law 2006”, as published in Special Edition Number 6 of the Official Journal of the European Patent Office. The selected sections all bear relevance to the subject of computer-implemented inventions. The sections have only been slightly reformatted for this site; the contents has been left untouched.

On Thursday 5 July 2007, the European Patent Office organises a conference on software patents. Four sessions will discuss respectively:

• the EU institutions’ view,
• EPO practice,
• the users’ perspective, and
• the quality controversy.

Panel members will be representatives from the European Parliament, the European Commission, the EPO, SME, NPO, and FFII.