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(External links: * [http://www.no-patents-on-seeds.org/en/information/news/german-parliament-prohibits-patents-plants-and-animals-conventional-breeding German Parliament prohibits patents on plants and animals from conventional breeding], 27 June 2013)
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{{Infobox|country-region-todo}}
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:''May 2013: see [[German parliament petition against software patents]]''
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'''Germany''' is part of the [[European Union]], is a signatory of the [[European Patent Convention]], and has significant [[case law in Germany|case law]] regarding [[software patents]].
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==Case law==
 
==Case law==
===Digital Circuits===
 
* Full name: [http://www.ip-agents.de/Lawyer/Rulings/Patent-Rights/inter/BGH-Softwarepatente/BGH-Softwarepatente_digitale-Schaltungen.html X ZB 11/98 – Digital Circuits], 13th December 1999
 
 
This important ruling introduced the test of "''controllable natural forces''".
 
 
This [[legal wording]] was used in the EU by the anti-swpat campaign in September 2003.
 
 
===UK's Lord Justice Jacobs' comments===
 
 
The UK 2006 [[Aerotel v. Telco]] ruling, page 49, notes:
 
 
:"''129. Two cases of the German BGH were brought to our attention. The first was Sprachananlyseeinrichtung (language analysing device) 11th May 220 X ZB 15/86 GRUR 200 1007, 454 OJ EPO 8-9/2002. The headnote accurately states the holding:''
 
 
::''“(a)An apparatus (computer) which is programmed in a specific way has technical character. The applies even if texts are edited on the computer.''
 
 
::''(b) For the purpose of assessing the technical character of such an apparatus it is not relevant whether the apparatus produces a (further) technical effect, whether technology is enriched by it or whether it makes a contribution to the state of the art.”''
 
 
:''130. For reasons we confess we do not fully understand the BGH considered that the case was not concerned with the computer program as such exclusion. It therefore did not find it necessary to consider the EPO case law on the point. Significantly, in the more recent case of Jesco Schwarzer 28th September 2004 17''
 
 
:''131. W (pat) 31/03, the BGH appears to have some reservations about Sprachananlyseeinrichtung, refusing to extend it to the image processing system of the claim because it was basically a claim to mathematical method as such even though it would implemented by a computer. Most significantly, however, the BGH declined to follow Hitachi (see para 3.2.2.).'''
 
 
===Judge Mellulis' comments===
 
 
The following are comments made by Judge Mellulis of Germany's Bundesgerichtshof at a Symposium of European Patent Judges in September 2006.  They were quoted in the UK's 2008 ruling on [[Symbian v. Comptroller General (2008, UK)|Symbian v. Comptroller General]].
 
 
:"''[his court] proceeds from the assumption that the prohibition on the patenting of software 'as such' means what the law says ... software is not patentable merely by virtue of being used in conjunction with a general-purpose computer''"
 
  
Deprecating the reliance on the word "technical", he noted:
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:''(See: [[Case law in Germany]])''
  
:"''when assessing software as such, the program's interdependence with the technical device makes the technical content hard to deny''"
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Germany has a mixed history of rejecting and, more recently, upholding software patents.  Germany is a signatory of the [[European Patent Convention]], so this case law will be influential in most of Europe.  In 2010, the Germany High Court (BGH) upheld a patent on an [[XML patents|XML]] document formatting system (case [[Xa ZB 20/08 (2010, April, Germany)|Xa ZB 20/08]]) and one of [[Microsoft's FAT patents]] (case [[X ZR 27/07 (2010, April, Germany)|X ZR 27/07]]).
  
 
==Legislation==
 
==Legislation==
  
[[Patentable subject matter]] is defined by the below quoted part of this law: {{lang de|http://www.transpatent.com/gesetze/patg.html#1|Bekanntmachung der Neufassung des Patentgesetzes, Vom 16. Dezember 1980}}
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[[Patentable subject matter]] is defined by the below quoted part of this law: {{translate de|url=http://www.transpatent.com/gesetze/patg.html#1|title=Bekanntmachung der Neufassung des Patentgesetzes, Vom 16. Dezember 1980}}
  
 
<blockquote>
 
<blockquote>
Line 44: Line 20:
 
(4) Absatz 3 steht der Patentfähigkeit nur insoweit entgegen, als für die genannten Gegenstände oder Tätigkeiten als solche Schutz begehrt wird.
 
(4) Absatz 3 steht der Patentfähigkeit nur insoweit entgegen, als für die genannten Gegenstände oder Tätigkeiten als solche Schutz begehrt wird.
 
</blockquote>
 
</blockquote>
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Possibly of interest is {{translate de|url=http://volltextservice.luchterhand.de/display.php?volltextid=4K481004|title=German court ruling "7 O 145/09"}} which discusses Sec. 15 para 3 and Sec. 140a para 3 of the German Patent Act, with info related to covenants not to sue.
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==Related pages on {{SITENAME}}==
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* [[Case law in Germany]]
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** [[Controllable forces of nature]] - a test, based on German rulings
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* [[German patent courts and appeals]]
  
 
==External links==
 
==External links==
  
 
* http://www.dpma.de - Germany's patent office
 
* http://www.dpma.de - Germany's patent office
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* {{translate de|url=http://www.patentfrei.de/|title=PatentFrei (anti-swpat group, still active in 2010)}}
 
* [http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=240205 Software Patents in Germany], Stefan Bechtold, July 2000
 
* [http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=240205 Software Patents in Germany], Stefan Bechtold, July 2000
* http://www.ipwiki.de/patentrecht:softwarepatente
 
 
* [http://www.bmbf.de/pub/innovationsverhalten_sw-entwicklungsunternehmen.pdf German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF)]
 
* [http://www.bmbf.de/pub/innovationsverhalten_sw-entwicklungsunternehmen.pdf German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF)]
* de.Wikipedia: [http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Softwarepatent#Deutschland Softwarepatent#Deutschland]
 
 
* [http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/03/07/patent_crackdown_at_cebit/ 180 German police perform raid regarding software patents]
 
* [http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/03/07/patent_crackdown_at_cebit/ 180 German police perform raid regarding software patents]
 
* [http://eupat.ffii.org/gasnu/de/index.en.html FFII's page on swpats in Germany]
 
* [http://eupat.ffii.org/gasnu/de/index.en.html FFII's page on swpats in Germany]
 
* http://www.esr-pollmeier.de/swpat/intro.html
 
* http://www.esr-pollmeier.de/swpat/intro.html
 
* http://www.patentfrei.de/
 
* http://www.patentfrei.de/
* [http://www.internationallawoffice.com/Newsletters/detail.aspx?g=abc44bef-50b0-4b0b-8c70-a28d7fa5502a Industry Standards and the Competition Law Defence Acting Like a 'True Licensee'] - about the [[competition law defense]]
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* [http://www.internationallawoffice.com/Newsletters/detail.aspx?g=abc44bef-50b0-4b0b-8c70-a28d7fa5502a Industry Standards and the Competition Law Defence Acting Like a 'True Licensee'] - about the [[competition law defence]]
 
* [http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=240205 Software Patents in Germany - Current Developments], by Stefan Bechtold, July 2000
 
* [http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=240205 Software Patents in Germany - Current Developments], by Stefan Bechtold, July 2000
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* [http://www.eplawpatentblog.com/eplaw/2010/10/de-covenant-not-to-sue.html Covenant not to sue <nowiki>[in German law]</nowiki>], 6 Oct 2010, '''EPLAW patent blog'''
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** Which discusses {{translate de|url=http://volltextservice.luchterhand.de/display.php?volltextid=4K481004|title=German court ruling "7 O 145/09" on the difference between a "covenant not to sue" and a "licence"}}
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* [http://www.bundeskartellamt.de/wEnglisch/News/press/2011_04_20.php Bundeskartellamt clears CPTN joint venture for acquisition of Novell patents], 20 Apr 2011, '''Federal Cartel Office'''
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* {{translate de|url=http://www.ipwiki.de/patentrecht:softwarepatente|title=ipwiki.de/patentrecht:softwarepatente}}
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* {{translate de|url=http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Softwarepatent#Deutschland|title=de.wikipedia: Softwarepatent#Deutschland}}
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* {{translate de|url=http://www.swpat.info/|title=www.swpat.info}}
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* {{translate de|url=http://blog.prevalent.de/?p=32|title=T-Mobile SPAM Patent ruled invalid}} - but it took five years!
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* [http://www.no-patents-on-seeds.org/en/information/news/german-parliament-prohibits-patents-plants-and-animals-conventional-breeding German Parliament prohibits patents on plants and animals from conventional breeding], 27 June 2013, '''no-patents-on-seeds.org'''
  
 
===[[FFII]] pages===
 
===[[FFII]] pages===
  
 
* [http://eupat.ffii.org/papers/bgh-dispo76/ FFII page about a 1976 BGH decision], which also has a handful of other good links near the top
 
* [http://eupat.ffii.org/papers/bgh-dispo76/ FFII page about a 1976 BGH decision], which also has a handful of other good links near the top
* {{lang de|http://eupat.ffii.org/papers/bpatg17-suche02/index.de.html|FFII page about the 2002 ruling with "forces of nature"}}
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* {{translate de|url=http://eupat.ffii.org/papers/bpatg17-suche02/index.de.html|title=FFII page about the 2002 ruling with "forces of nature"}}
* {{lang de|http://www.ffii.de/wiki/FallVistaPrint|FFII wiki about the Vistaprint case}}
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* {{translate de|url=http://www.ffii.de/wiki/FallVistaPrint|title=FFII wiki about the Vistaprint case}}
* {{lang de|http://www.ffii.de/wiki/Urteile|FFII wiki listing software patent cases, most in German courts}}
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* {{translate de|url=http://www.ffii.de/wiki/Urteile|title=FFII wiki listing software patent cases, most in German courts}}
  
  
{{page footer}}
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{{footer}}
 
[[Category:Germany]]
 
[[Category:Germany]]
 
[[Category:Countries and regions]]
 
[[Category:Countries and regions]]
[[Category:Patent office practice by region]]
 
[[Category:Case law by region]]
 
 
[[Category:EPC signatories with relevant subject matter case law|Germany, Case law in]]
 
[[Category:EPC signatories with relevant subject matter case law|Germany, Case law in]]
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[[Category:European Union member states]]
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[[Category:European Patent Convention signatories]]

Revision as of 17:45, 1 September 2013

May 2013: see German parliament petition against software patents

Germany is part of the European Union, is a signatory of the European Patent Convention, and has significant case law regarding software patents.

Case law

(See: Case law in Germany)

Germany has a mixed history of rejecting and, more recently, upholding software patents. Germany is a signatory of the European Patent Convention, so this case law will be influential in most of Europe. In 2010, the Germany High Court (BGH) upheld a patent on an XML document formatting system (case Xa ZB 20/08) and one of Microsoft's FAT patents (case X ZR 27/07).

Legislation

Patentable subject matter is defined by the below quoted part of this law: German original: Bekanntmachung der Neufassung des Patentgesetzes, Vom 16. Dezember 1980 (English translations[?]: Google, bing translator)

(3) Als Erfindungen im Sinne des Absatzes 1 werden insbesondere nicht angesehen:

1. Entdeckungen sowie wissenschaftliche Theorien und mathematische Methoden;
2. ästhetische Formschöpfungen;
3. Pläne, Regeln und Verfahren für gedankliche Tätigkeiten, für Spiele oder für geschäftliche Tätigkeiten sowie Programme für Datenverarbeitungsanlagen;
4. die Wiedergabe von Informationen.

(4) Absatz 3 steht der Patentfähigkeit nur insoweit entgegen, als für die genannten Gegenstände oder Tätigkeiten als solche Schutz begehrt wird.

Possibly of interest is German original: German court ruling "7 O 145/09" (English translations[?]: Google, bing translator) which discusses Sec. 15 para 3 and Sec. 140a para 3 of the German Patent Act, with info related to covenants not to sue.

Related pages on ESP Wiki

External links

FFII pages