Software patent

Software patents and patents on computer-implemented inventions (CII) are a class of patents and one of many legal aspects of computing. There is intense debate as to what extent such patents should be granted, if any.

History

The first software patent ever granted is probably a patent for a "computer having slow and quick access storage, when programmed to solve a linear programming problem by an iterative algorithm, the iterative algorithm being such that (...)" applied for in 1962 by British Petroleum Company (http://www.cippm.org.uk/pdfs/JILT%20kretschmer%2011_03.pdf, see end of page 3). The patent relates to solving simultaneous linear equations.

Related Topics:
1962 - British Petroleum Company - Linear equation

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The USPTO has traditionally not considered software to be patentable because by statute patents can only be granted to "processes, machines, articles of manufacture, and compositions of matter". In particular patents cannot be granted to "scientific truths" or "mathematical expressions" of them. This means that most of the fundamental techniques of software engineering have never been patented.

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In 1982 the US created a new court (the Federal Circuit) to hear patent cases. The court made patents generally easier to uphold by presuming patents were valid unless proved invalid and weakening the defence of nonobviousness. By the early 1990s the patentability of software was well established, and in 1996 the USPTO issued Final Computer Related Examination Guidelines. See Software patents under U.S. patent law.

Related Topics:
1982 - Federal Circuit - Nonobviousness - 1990s - Software patents under U.S. patent law

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In Europe, the EPO (and other national patent offices) has been issuing many software patents since the 1980s, although or since Article 52 of the European Patent Convention excludes "programs for computers" (Art. 52(2)) but only to the extent it relates to activies "as such" (Art. 52(3)). See Software patents under the European Patent Convention.

Related Topics:
EPO - European Patent Convention - Software patents under the European Patent Convention

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In India, a clause to include software patents was quashed by the Indian Parliament in April 2005.

Related Topics:
India - Indian Parliament - April 2005

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The recent expansion of the internet and e-commerce has led to many patents being applied for and being granted for related software and business methods. There have been several successful enforcement trials in the USA.

Related Topics:
Internet - E-commerce

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