There are two provisions in the regulations[1] annexed to the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) that relate to the search and examination of patent applications concerning computer programs. These two provisions are present in the PCT, which does not provide for the grant of patents but provides a unified procedure for filing, searching[2] and examining[3] patent applications, called international applications. The question of patentability is touched when conducting the search and the examination, which is an examination of whether the invention appears to be patentable.[4]
These two provisions are Rule 39.1PCT and Rule 67.1PCT, and, in conjunction respectively with Article 17(2)(a)(i)PCT and Article 34(4)(a)(i)PCT, may have a concrete impact on the procedure under the PCT, in the search and examination performed under the PCT.[5] Indeed, depending on the patent office which is in charge of the search or examination under the PCT, the application filed for an invention relating to a computer program may or may not be searched or examined.[5] In addition, the ISA and IPEA (see background section) that do not search such applications to a certain extent have diverging practices with respect to determinations of exclusions as to computer programs.[6]
The Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) is an international patent law treaty, which provides a unified procedure for filing patent applications. A patent application filed under the PCT is called an international application or a PCT application.
The filing of an international application results in an international search performed by a patent office, accompanied with a written opinion regarding the patentability of the invention which is the subject of the application. An applicant may also request an international preliminary examination performed by a patent office. The PCT does not provide that the searches and examinations are to be performed by one central patent office, as the WIPO does not perform searches and examinations. In contrast, the European Patent Convention (EPC) places the European Patent Office (EPO) in charge of performing searches and examinations for European patent applications.
Under the PCT, the international search and the optional international preliminary examination are conducted by different national or regional patent offices, referred to as the International Searching Authorities (ISA)[8] and the International Preliminary Examining Authority (IPEA)[9] Applicants, based on nationality and on the Receiving Office where the application was filed, may have an opportunity to have the search performed by one of the ISAs.
The relevant provisions in the regulations
The regulations under the PCT do touch on the search and examination of computer programs.[10]
No International Searching Authority shall be required to search an international application if, and to the extent to which, its subject matter is any of the following:... (vi) computer programs to the extent that the International Searching Authority is not equipped to search prior art concerning such programs. (emphasis added)
No International Preliminary Examining Authority shall be required to carry out an international preliminary examination on an international application if, and to the extent to which, its subject matter is any of the following:... (vi) computer programs to the extent that the International Preliminary Examining Authority is not equipped to carry out an international preliminary examination concerning such programs [emphasis added].
According to the Board of Appeal 3.5.1 of the EPO, these provisions mean that the ISA and IPEA authorities are not required to carry out searches or preliminary examinations in respect of programs if, for example, they have no examiners trained to do so or are not equipped with appropriate search material.[10] The Board went on to say:
However, it is not to be inferred from these rules that searches or examinations in the software field are to be ruled out in international authorities. On the contrary, it seems... that according to the PCT searches and, if applicable, examinations of this type can and may very well (perhaps even should) be carried out if the competent authority is appropriately equipped.[10]
These provisions deal only with the international searches and international preliminary examinations and not with the national and regional searches or examinations.[11]
Practices by ISA and IPEA
The different ISA and IPEA have made use of the legal provisions of Articles 17(2)(a)(i) and 34(4)(a)(i) PCT in conjunction with Rules 39.1 and 67.1 in a different manner. In addition, as mentioned above, the ISA and IPEA that have made use of these provisions have diverging practices with respect to determinations of exclusions as to computer programs.[6]
For instance, the European Patent Office (EPO), acting as ISA and IPEA, is not obliged to search, by virtue of Article 17(2)(a)(i) PCT, or examine, by virtue of Article 34(4)(a)(i) PCT, any international application to the extent that the EPO considers that such application relates to subject matter which does not comply with the provisions of the European Patent Convention to such an extent that it is not possible to carry out a meaningful search into the state of the art on the basis of all or some of the claims.[12] The EPO acting as ISA or IPEA in the PCT procedure is therefore not obliged to search or examine some PCT applications when not equipped to do so.
Origin and interpretive significance of the provisions
The computer program exclusion of Rule 39.1 PCT, which originally appears to be for "equipment" reasons, dates from 1969:
[The subject matter for which the International Searching Authority is not required to search] includes mathematical and scientific theories, plant and animal varieties except for microbiology, ornamental designs. It also includes computer programs but only to the extent that the International Searching Authority is not equipped to search prior art concerning such programs.[13]
Rule 39.1 PCT is significant from an interpretive perspective to understand the origin of the much debated Article 52(2) and (3)EPC (see Software patents under the European Patent Convention (EPC) and Article 52 EPC). The computer program exclusion was indeed inserted in the EPC in line with Rule 39.1 PCT, so that Rule 39.1 predates Art. 52(2) and (3) EPC.[7] However, while the PCT condition for excluding computer programs is a question of equipment, the EPC condition is a question of "computer program as such".
According to some, the fact that the PCT does not deal directly with the scope of patentable subject matter, in relation to computer programs, adds "weight to the contention that, having been born out of administrative inconvenience rather than any great principle, restrictions on patentability of programs should be limited to the maximum possible extent."[14]
In the judgment in CFPH LLC's Applications, Peter Prescott referred to Rule 39.1 PCT when discussing the motivation behind the exclusion from patent protection of programs for computers under UK law. He commented that, at the time the EPC was under consideration (during the 1970s), "it was felt that searching the prior art would be a big problem" and that "Rule 39(1) of the Patent Co-operation Treaty recognised that an International Searching Authority might not be suitably equipped".[15]
Consequences on national and regional phases
These provisions have no legal consequence as regards the patentability in national or regional patent offices designated[16] in a PCT application, as the law of most national or regional offices[17] requires that they draw their own conclusions based on their own national or regional patent law. This is in complete compliance with the PCT since Article 27(5)PCT provides that, as far as substantive conditions of patentability are concerned, national and regional patent laws prevail:
Nothing in this Treaty and the Regulations is intended to be construed as prescribing anything that would limit the freedom of each Contracting State to prescribe such substantive conditions of patentability as it desires.
References and notes
↑ The regulations annexed to the PCT provide rules complementing the main articles, notably concerning matters in respect of which the PCT expressly refers to the regulations or expressly provides that some rules in the regulations are or shall be prescribed (Article 58(1)(i)PCT).
↑ "The objective of the international preliminary examination is to formulate a preliminary and non-binding opinion on the questions whether the claimed invention appears to be novel, to involve an inventive step (to be non-obvious), and to be industrially applicable." Article 33PCT
1 2 "The international examination now being conducted by CIPO instead of EPO may also have repercussions given the position taken by CIPO regarding the patentability of certain kinds of subject-matter in comparison with EPO and other countries, such as the patentability of higher life forms, software and business methods." in Nadine Beauger, David Enciso and Luc Morin, Changes to the PCT System since January 1st, 2004Archived 2007-02-26 at the Wayback Machine , Publications, Robic web site.
1 2 "It was only the second preliminary draft for a European Patent Convention dating from 1971 which explicitly excluded computer programs from patentability in line with Rule 39(1) PCT", Gunter Gall in a paper given at the OFDI Seminar on April 17, 1985 in Paris, cited in The Economic Impact of Patentability of Computer ProgramsArchived 2006-10-28 at the Wayback Machine , Study Contract ETD/99/B5-3000/E/106, report to the European Commission by R Hart, P Holmes, J Reid, 2000.
↑ Generalisation of "The aforementioned rules deal only with the international search and international preliminary examination and therefore not with the regional European search or examination." in Decision T 164/92, Reasons 8.4.
The patentability of software, computer programs and computer-implemented inventions under the European Patent Convention (EPC) is the extent to which subject matter in these fields is patentable under the Convention on the Grant of European Patents of October 5, 1973. The subject also includes the question of whether European patents granted by the European Patent Office (EPO) in these fields (sometimes called "software patents") are regarded as valid by national courts.
The European Patent Office (EPO) is one of the two organs of the European Patent Organisation (EPOrg), the other being the Administrative Council. The EPO acts as executive body for the organisation while the Administrative Council acts as its supervisory body as well as, to a limited extent, its legislative body. The actual legislative power to revise the European Patent Convention lies with the Contracting States themselves when meeting at a Conference of the Contracting States.
The Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) is an international patent law treaty, concluded in 1970. It provides a unified procedure for filing patent applications to protect inventions in each of its contracting states. A patent application filed under the PCT is called an international application, or PCT application.
The European Patent Convention (EPC), also known as the Convention on the Grant of European Patents of 5 October 1973, is a multilateral treaty instituting the European Patent Organisation and providing an autonomous legal system according to which European patents are granted. The term European patent is used to refer to patents granted under the European Patent Convention. However, a European patent is not a unitary right, but a group of essentially independent nationally enforceable, nationally revocable patents, subject to central revocation or narrowing as a group pursuant to two types of unified, post-grant procedures: a time-limited opposition procedure, which can be initiated by any person except the patent proprietor, and limitation and revocation procedures, which can be initiated by the patent proprietor only.
In most patent laws, unity of invention is a formal administrative requirement that must be met for a patent application to proceed to grant. An issued patent can claim only one invention or a group of closely related inventions. The purpose of this requirement is administrative as well as financial. The requirement serves to preclude the possibility of filing one patent application for several inventions, while paying only one set of fees. Unity of invention also makes the classification of patent documents easier.
European patent law covers a range of legislations including national patent laws, the Strasbourg Convention of 1963, the European Patent Convention of 1973, and a number of European Union directives and regulations. For some states in Eastern Europe, the Eurasian Patent Convention applies.
The European Patent Convention (EPC), the multilateral treaty providing the legal system according to which European patents are granted, contains provisions regarding whether a natural or juristic person needs to be represented in proceedings before the European Patent Office (EPO).
There are four overriding requirements for a patent to be granted under United Kingdom patent law. Firstly, there must have been an invention. That invention must be novel, inventive and susceptible of industrial application.
A patent application is a request pending at a patent office for the grant of a patent for an invention described in the patent specification and a set of one or more claims stated in a formal document, including necessary official forms and related correspondence. It is the combination of the document and its processing within the administrative and legal framework of the patent office.
This is a list of legal terms relating to patents and patent law. A patent is not a right to practice or use the invention claimed therein, but a territorial right to exclude others from commercially exploiting the invention, granted to an inventor or their successor in rights in exchange to a public disclosure of the invention.
The grant procedure before the European Patent Office (EPO) is an ex parte, administrative procedure, which includes the filing of a European patent application, the examination of formalities, the establishment of a search report, the publication of the application, its substantive examination, and the grant of a patent, or the refusal of the application, in accordance with the legal provisions of the European Patent Convention (EPC). The grant procedure is carried out by the EPO under the supervision of the Administrative Council of the European Patent Organisation. The patents granted in accordance with the EPC are called European patents.
T 1173/97, also known as Computer program product/IBM or simply Computer program product, is a decision of a Technical Board of Appeal of the European Patent Office (EPO), issued on July 1, 1998. It is a landmark decision for interpreting Article 52(2) and (3) of the European Patent Convention (EPC) and whether computer programs are excluded from patentability under the EPC.
The Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) is a set of initiatives for providing accelerated patent prosecution procedures by sharing information between some patent offices. It also permits each participating patent office to benefit from the work previously done by the other patent office, with the goal of reducing examination workload and improving patent quality.
Under case number G 3/08, the Enlarged Board of Appeal of the EPO issued on May 12, 2010 an opinion in response to questions referred to it by the President of the European Patent Office (EPO), Alison Brimelow, on October 22, 2008. The questions subject of the referral related to the patentability of programs for computers under the European Patent Convention (EPC) and were, according to the President of the EPO, of fundamental importance as they related to the definition of "the limits of patentability in the field of computing." In a 55-page long opinion, the Enlarged Board of Appeal considered the referral to be inadmissible because no divergent decisions had been identified in the referral.
The Guidelines for Examination in the European Patent Office are general instructions, for the examiners working at the European Patent Office (EPO) as well as for the parties interacting with the EPO, on the practice and procedure at the EPO in the various aspects of the prosecution of European patent applications and European patents. The Guidelines have been adopted, effective as at 1 June 1978, by the President of the EPO in accordance with Article 10(2)(a) EPC.
Under Article 82 EPC, a European patent application must "...relate to one invention only or to a group of inventions so linked as to form a single general inventive concept." This legal provision is the application, within the European Patent Convention, of the requirement of unity of invention, which also applies also in other jurisdictions.
In patent law, a search report is a report established by a patent office, which mentions documents which may be taken into consideration in deciding whether the invention to which a patent application relates is patentable. The documents mentioned in the search report usually form part of the prior art.
During the grant procedure before the European Patent Office (EPO), divisional applications can be filed under Article 76 EPC out of pending earlier European patent applications. A divisional application, sometimes called European divisional application, is a new patent application which is separate and independent from the earlier application, unless specific provisions in the European Patent Convention (EPC) require something different. A divisional application, which is divided from an earlier application, cannot be broader than the earlier application, neither in terms of subject-matter nor in terms of geographical cover.
The Israel Patent Office, affiliated with the Israeli Ministry of Justice, handles issues related to intellectual property rights in Israel, including patents, designs, trademarks and appellations.
The unitary patent for Switzerland and Liechtenstein is a patent having a unitary character over the territories of Switzerland and Liechtenstein. It can either be a national patent, or a European patent granted under the European Patent Convention (EPC) and having a unitary character pursuant to Article 142(1) EPC. The unitary patent "may only be granted, transferred, annulled or lapse in respect of the whole territory of protection," i.e. for both Switzerland and Liechtenstein.
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