[Patents] Alert: Software Patents in Europe: Juridical Coup at the EPO

[phm@a2e.de (PILCH Hartmut)]

> While "as such" is a very ill-defined concept the EPO have been twisting
> the meaning so far that now the "programs for computers" exception in
> 52.2c might as well not be there.

"As such" is not ill-defined.

You just need to apply normal grammatical rules and you get a perfect
meaning.  Just as shown in the EPO Guidelines of 1978.
Of course, when you start pretending that there is something fuzzy or
mysterious about this particle, you can in fact fall into an abyss
of ill-defined doctrines.

A "program as such" is a "program as a program".   If you seek protection
for something else, in which the program plays a role, the limit of art
52.2 does not apply.   This is a matter of common sense which could also
have been left to the examination guidelines, but it is common practise to
write limits and limits of limits into laws.

--
Hartmut Pilch                                         http://phm.ffii.org/
Protecting Innovation against Patent Inflation      http://swpat.ffii.org/
90000 signatures against software patents       http://www.noepatents.org/