Software and patents in Europe / Philip Leith. electronic resource

By:

Leith, Philip, 1954-

Material type: Text

TextSeries: Cambridge intellectual property and information lawPublication details: Cambridge, UK ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 2007.Description: viii, 203 p. : ill. ; 24 cmISBN:

9780521868396 (hbk.)
0521868394 (hbk.)
0511366361
9780511366369

Subject(s):

DDC classification:

346.240486 22

LOC classification:

KJE2725 .L45 2007

Other classification:

86.33

Online resources:

Click here to download

Table of contents also issued online.

Partial contents:

Software as machine -- Software as software -- policy arguments -- Software patent examination -- Holding the line: algorithms, business methods and other computing ogres -- The third way: between patent and copyright? -- Conclusion: dealing with and harmonising 'radical' technologies

Summary: The computer program exclusion from Article 52 of the European Patent Convention (EPC) proved impossible to uphold as industry moved over to digital technology, and the Boards of Appeal of the European Patent Organisation (EPO) felt emboldened to circumvent the EPC in Vicom by creating the legal fiction of 'technical effect'. This 'engineer's solution' emphasised that protection should be available for a device, a situation which has led to software and business methods being protected throughout Europe when the form of application, rather than the substance, is acceptable. Since the Article 52 exclusion has effectively vanished, this text examines what makes examination of software invention difficult and what leads to such energetic opposition to protecting inventive activity in the software field. Leith advocates a more programming-centric approach, which recognises that software examination requires different strategies from that of other technical fields.

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Holdings
Item type	Current library	Collection	Call number	URL	Status	Date due	Barcode	Item holds
e-book	KNCHR Library SharePoint	Non-Fiction	KJE2725 .L45 2007 (Browse shelf(Opens below))	Link to resource	Available

Total holds: 0

Includes bibliographical references and index.

The computer program exclusion from Article 52 of the European Patent Convention (EPC) proved impossible to uphold as industry moved over to digital technology, and the Boards of Appeal of the European Patent Organisation (EPO) felt emboldened to circumvent the EPC in Vicom by creating the legal fiction of 'technical effect'. This 'engineer's solution' emphasised that protection should be available for a device, a situation which has led to software and business methods being protected throughout Europe when the form of application, rather than the substance, is acceptable. Since the Article 52 exclusion has effectively vanished, this text examines what makes examination of software invention difficult and what leads to such energetic opposition to protecting inventive activity in the software field. Leith advocates a more programming-centric approach, which recognises that software examination requires different strategies from that of other technical fields.

Table of contents also issued online.

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