From steve.probert@patent.gov.uk  Fri Oct 13 10:48:52 2000
Date: Fri, 13 Oct 2000 11:48:52 +0100
From: Steve Probert steve.probert@patent.gov.uk
Subject: [Patents] simple questions

>The EPO and its clique are a bunch of dishonest, law-breaking and
>self-serving oppressors relying on brute force.  Even if they manage to
>adapt the law to their practise in November, this will be an unjust law,
>which any honest citizien will have to disobey.

Don't beat about the bush.  If you don't like the EPO, just say so.

Seriously though, at some point we will need a fully informed debate in Europe about the pros and cons of extending the field of patentable subject matter.  Should patents be granted for computer programs as such?  Should patents be granted for methods of doing business?  The US has already made its choice on both of these matters, but there is a danger that any consultation exercise will misfire over here because of a misunderstanding about what is patentable now.

I would be interested to learn more about the Federal Patent Court decision to which you refer.  You say that the Court rejected claims to a "computer program" or "computer program product" for not being acceptable as statutory subject matter under Art 52.2c.  Did the Court, at the same time, accept a claim to a (conventional) computer running the program?  In other words, is this just an example of form being exalted over substance?

Steve Probert
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       




