From epa98@doc.ic.ac.uk  Mon Oct 16 16:58:35 2000
Date: Mon, 16 Oct 2000 17:58:35 +0100 (BST)
From: Edward Avis epa98@doc.ic.ac.uk
Subject: [Patents] Technical effect

On Mon, 16 Oct 2000 patents-request@liberte.aful.org wrote:

>From: "Stephen Probert" <stephenprobert@hotmail.com>

>The UK Patent Office does grant patents for computer programs,
>provided that the program is capable of producing a technical effect
>when run on a computer.

Every program from Hello World onwards produces a technical effect when
run on a computer.

Or could you give the UK Patent Office's definition of techincal effect?

>The UK Patent Office does not grant patents for methods of doing 
>business whatever the technical advance may be, because that is what the 
>Courts in the UK have decided.

Do you mean to say that Amazon's one-click patent would not have been
granted by the UK Patent Office?

-- 
Ed Avis
epa98@doc.ic.ac.uk





