Schohe, Stefan; Appelt, Christian; Goddar, Heinz --- "Patenting software-related inventions in Europe" [2019] ELECD 384; in Takenaka, Toshiko (ed), "Research Handbook on Patent Law and Theory" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2019) 106

Book Title: Research Handbook on Patent Law and Theory

Editor(s): Takenaka, Toshiko

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN: 9781785364112

Section: Chapter 5

Section Title: Patenting software-related inventions in Europe

Author(s): Schohe, Stefan; Appelt, Christian; Goddar, Heinz

Number of pages: 26

Abstract/Description:

This chapter outlines the conditions under which software-related inventions are patented in the countries of the European Patent Convention (EPC). Following an outline of the relevant legal provisions and the main doctrines underlying the case law in different jurisdictions, the practice in the three main jurisdictions, namely Germany, the United Kingdom and the European Patent Office, is discussed in depth. A detailed analysis reveals that decisions may vary greatly when it comes to the question of the contribution of software and algorithms to a patentable invention, even when there is a fairly established approach to the examination of software-related inventions. The chapter closes with a comparison of the different approaches, concluding that all of them should lead to similar results, if the entirety of technical features in a claim, both explicit and implicit, is considered.