UK PATENT OFFICE SOFTWARE PATENT WORKSHOP

ZDNet reports on the workshop held by the UK Patent Office concerning the EU software patent directive. It won’t come as much of a surprise to learn that the attendees, who included software developers and patent lawyers weren’t impressed by the Directive. They claim that the criteria for deciding if a patent should be granted are so vague that almost all software patent applications will be granted. The UK Patent Office, which has helped to steer the legislation through to its second reading later this month, denies that this is the case. The group also considered a number of fictional case-studies and an alternative definition of “technical contribution” proposed by the Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure. The workshop formed part of a series of 13 which have been held across the UK.

Cute…but do they qualify for patent protection?

The IPKat is interested to know what will come out of the results of these workshops. Watch this space.

Computer-related inventions here, here, here and here