Rote Taube

Last updated

Rote Taube ("Red Dove") is a landmark decision of the Federal Court of Justice of Germany (Bundesgerichtshof) (X ZB 15/67, 27 Mar. 1969), regarding the definition of a technical teaching ("a teaching to methodically utilize controllable natural forces to achieve a causal, perceivable result") in patent law. [1] [2]

To this day, courts continue to refer to the Rote Taube decision in a wide variety of subsequent rulings, invoking it in very different ways. [3]

Although the decision does not mention the patentability of software at all, it has "developed into one of the most important rulings for the patenting of software". [4]

In the literature on material law, it has been noted that the court's reasoning "subjected animal breeding methods entirely to the logic of a natural-scientific, materialistic worldview, so that living beings were obviously simply regarded as the sum of their 'chemical components', that is, as a 'composition of matter'". According to the same analysis, various courts have since distanced themselves from this argumentation - some more clearly than others - while others continue to follow it. [5]

References

  1. ↑ Association of the Bar of the City of New York (1982). The Record of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York. The Association. p. 383. The German Federal Supreme Court has addressed the patentability question in the landmark Rote Taube ("Red Dove") and Backerhefe ("Baker's Yeast") decisions.
  2. ↑ David W. Plant; Niels J. Reimers; Norton D. Zinder (1982). Patenting of Life Forms. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. p. 152. ISBN   978-0-87969-209-4. In accordance with the landmark decision 'Rote Taube' (Red Dove) and 'Backerhefe' (Baker's yeast) by the German Federal Supreme Court (BGH) of 27 March 19693 and 11 March 19754, (...).
  3. ↑ "Chronological overview of case references". dejure.org (in German). Retrieved 30 November 2025.
  4. ↑ Martin Kuschel (2022-09-02). "Software patents – The case law of the Federal Court of Justice from 1969 to 2007 – Part 1/3" (in German). Retrieved 30 November 2025.
  5. ↑ Merenyi, Stefanie (2019). The concept of "substance" in law: An interdisciplinary study of material law with consideration of substance-oriented patent law. Geistiges Eigentum und Wettbewerbsrecht (in German). Vol. 146. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck. p. 358. ISBN   978-3-16-156784-1.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.