UK Patent Office To Consult On Software Patent Directive Rewrite

by Robin Pilgrim, LawAndTax-News.com, London

08 February 2005

In the wake of last week's announcement that debate on the Patentability of Computer Implemented Inventions Directive will be restarted, the UK's Patent Office revealed that it will be holding workshops across the United Kingdom to discuss the issue.

In particular, the UKPO will be looking to examine the concept of a 'technical contribution', as a factor in deciding whether a patent should be granted. Under the terms of the disputed EU legislation, also known as the Software Patents Directive, a piece of software can be patented if it can be shown to have made a technical contribution to existing knowledge.

Explaining the reasoning behind the staging of the workshops, UKPO divisional director, Peter Hayward announced that:

"Opposing views on the directive have been expressed by different sectors of the software industry, and not just along the traditional division between the large and small firms. We will be very interested to see if a definition which is clear to software developers can be found which continues to enable the patent system to protect technical inventions."

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