[Patents] Press release about the BT patent on hyperlinks. -Reply

[Steve Probert steve.probert@patent.gov.uk]

>*All* computer programs have the potential to cause a technical effect
>when loaded onto a computer.  That is their purpose=21

To answer your question, I can do no better than refer you to the decision =
of the EPO Board of Appeal  in case No T 0935/97. The summary towards the =
end of the decision reads:

*In the view of the Board, a computer program claimed by itself is not =
excluded from patentability if the program, when running on a computer or =
loaded into a computer, brings about, or is capable of bringing about, a =
technical effect which goes beyond the =A1normal=A2 physical interactions =
between the program (software) and the computer (hardware) on which it is =
run.*

The position in the UK is precisely the same.  The =27normal=27 technical =
effect that occurs when any computer program is loaded  onto a computer =
doesn=27t count.

>So I cannot patent a computer program, but I can patent the =27technical
>effect=27 which a program might have when run?

You can patent a program.  But you cannot patent a program *as such*.  =
(Not my words, but the law.)  The important distinction is whether the =
program is more than a program *as such*, eg is it capable of bringing =
about a technical effect which goes beyond the normal .... blah blah ... ?

>In this particular case, the patent is not about =27technical effect=27 =
but
>about the very idea of hyperlinks.  Otherwise, it could not possibly
>apply to the Web because the technology used is very different from >that =
current when the patent was filed.

Did I say the patent had anything to do with the web, or hyperlinks?  All =
I said was that there was no doubt in my mind that we would have granted =
it under the law as it stands today (assuming novelty and inventive step =
etc.).  As I read the specification, it is not a computer program *as =
such*, not least because the invention claimed involves a technical =
effect.  Others are better placed to determine whether web technology =
(hyperlinks etc) would have infringed - I have my views, but I=27m keeping =
them to myself.

Steve Probert