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Difference between revisions of "European Patent Office grants software patents"

(Related pages on {{SITENAME}}: * UPLS - a proposal from the European Commission which would create a centralised patent court that would probably uphold the EPO's software patents)
(Related pages on {{SITENAME}}: replace UPLS link with system that replaced it)
 
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The [[European Patent Office]] (EPO) grants thousands of [[software patents]] every year, but denies granting anyThis page lists some software patents they've granted.
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This article lists examples of [[software patents]] granted by the [[European Patent Office]] (EPO) in spite of their repeated public claims of not granting software patents.  You will also find links on this page to other collections of examples.  You can find more using the instructions at [[Searching_for_patents#European_Patent_Office]].
  
 
==The EPO's public denial==
 
==The EPO's public denial==
Here's an example of a public statment from the EPO.  This is from 2009:
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Here's an example of a public statement from the EPO.  This is from 2009:
 
<blockquote>
 
<blockquote>
 
''The EPO does not grant "software patents". The term itself is a misleading concept. Under the EPC a computer program claimed as such is not a patentable invention (Art. 52(2)(c) and (3) EPC). Inventions involving computer programs that implement business, mathematical or similar methods and do not produce technical effects (e. g. because they solve a business problem rather than a technical one) are not patentable, and no patents will be granted for such inventions in Europe.<ref>http://www.epo.org/topics/issues/computer-implemented-inventions/software.html (see page 12 of the linked PDF document)</ref>
 
''The EPO does not grant "software patents". The term itself is a misleading concept. Under the EPC a computer program claimed as such is not a patentable invention (Art. 52(2)(c) and (3) EPC). Inventions involving computer programs that implement business, mathematical or similar methods and do not produce technical effects (e. g. because they solve a business problem rather than a technical one) are not patentable, and no patents will be granted for such inventions in Europe.<ref>http://www.epo.org/topics/issues/computer-implemented-inventions/software.html (see page 12 of the linked PDF document)</ref>
 
</blockquote>
 
</blockquote>
  
==List of granted software patents==
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==Examples of granted software patents==
* EP769170 - trapping viruses[http://eupat.ffii.org/patents/samples/ep769170/index.en.html]
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* EP803105 and EP738446 - selling things online
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* EP249293 - pop-out-context-menu, granted to [[Philips]]
* EP249293 - pop-out-context-menu, , granted to [[Philips]]
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* EP769170 - trapping viruses ([http://eupat.ffii.org/patents/samples/ep769170/index.en.html more info])
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* [https://www.google.com/patents/EP0803105B1 EP0803105] and EP738446 - selling things online
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* [http://v3.espacenet.com/publicationDetails/biblio?CC=EP&NR=618540&KC=&FT=E EP0618540] - the long filenames patent from [[Microsoft's FAT patents]]
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* [https://www.google.com/patents/EP0800142B1 EP0800142] - transforming file names (must check if it's also about FAT)
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* [https://www.google.com/patents/EP0538888B1 EP0538888] - pay per use ([http://eupat.ffii.org/pikta/mupli/ep538888/index.en.html more info])
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* [https://www.google.com/patents/EP0689133B1 EP0689133] - tabbed software palettes
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* [https://www.google.com/patents/EP0756731B1 EP0756731] - generating buying incentives from cooking recipes
  
 
==Related pages on {{SITENAME}}==
 
==Related pages on {{SITENAME}}==
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* [[Searching_for_patents#European_Patent_Office]]
 
* [[Computer-implemented inventions]]
 
* [[Computer-implemented inventions]]
 
* [[European Patent Convention]]
 
* [[European Patent Convention]]
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* [[The Patented Webshop]]
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* [[EU unitary patent and Unified Patent Court]]
 
* [[Do software patents exist in my area]]?
 
* [[Do software patents exist in my area]]?
* [[The Patented Webshop]]
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* [[Software patents exist in Europe, mostly]]
* [[UPLS]] - a proposal from the [[European Commission]] which would create a centralised patent court that would probably uphold the EPO's software patents
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* [[EPO EBA referral G3-08]] - EPO's internal review of software patents, reached no conclusion:
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** [http://news.swpat.org/2010/05/epo-patents-review-inadmissible/ EPO rules own software patents review inadmissible]
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==External links==
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* [http://eupat.ffii.org/pikta/mupli/index.en.html European Software Patents: Assorted Examples], by [[FFII]]
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* [http://www.nosoftwarepatents-award.com/ Software patent of the year award] (short lived, but the site contains many examples)
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* [http://webshop.ffii.org/ webshop.ffii.org] (see: [[The Patented Webshop]])
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* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_software_patents Wikipedia: List of software patents] - only some of these are from the EPO
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* [http://www.iusmentis.com/patents/businessmethods/epoexamples/ Examples of granted European business method patents], 2004, by Arnoud Engelfriet (see: [[Business method patents]])
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== References ==
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{{reflist}}
  
  
{{page footer}}
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{{footer}}
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[[Category:Europe]]

Latest revision as of 04:40, 15 May 2014

This article lists examples of software patents granted by the European Patent Office (EPO) in spite of their repeated public claims of not granting software patents. You will also find links on this page to other collections of examples. You can find more using the instructions at Searching_for_patents#European_Patent_Office.

The EPO's public denial

Here's an example of a public statement from the EPO. This is from 2009:

The EPO does not grant "software patents". The term itself is a misleading concept. Under the EPC a computer program claimed as such is not a patentable invention (Art. 52(2)(c) and (3) EPC). Inventions involving computer programs that implement business, mathematical or similar methods and do not produce technical effects (e. g. because they solve a business problem rather than a technical one) are not patentable, and no patents will be granted for such inventions in Europe.[1]

Examples of granted software patents

Related pages on ESP Wiki

External links

References