Re: [Patents] EPO patent on introducing customers to lawyers

[Bernard Lang <Bernard.Lang@inria.fr>]

http://www.epo.co.at/news/pressrel/2001_08_13_e.htm


The PR is no longer available on the EPO site ...

but I do have a copy

Bernard


On Fri, Jan 17, 2003 at 08:56:14PM +0100, PILCH Hartmut wrote:
> At
> 
>         http://swpat.ffii.org/patents/ep/1249/000/
> 
> you find a patent application with the following main claim in many
> variations
> 
>    A computer-implemented method for procuring legal services,
>    comprising: receiving a service request including information
>    reflecting a type of legal service; determining from a set of
>    service providers a select group of service providers capable of
>    satisfying the service request based on stored information
>    associated with the set of service providers, the stored
>    information including at least an identification of types of legal
>    services associated with each service provider; providing the
>    service request to each service provider of the select group of
>    service providers; receiving a response to the service request from
>    any service providers from the select group; and outputting to the
>    requester any responses from the service providers.
> 
> These claims were published in 2001/07.  They still seem to be in the
> examination backlog.
> 
> This is probably invalid even according to EPO standards, and if it
> isn't, the lawyers at the EPO will make sure it is.  After all they
> know how bad patents are for their business and they won't do unto
> themselves what they do unto others.
> 
> But it does seem somewhat strange that this patent application
> appeared on the EPO site at all.  After all in August 2001, shortly
> after this one was published, the EPO issued a press release saying
> that it will reject business method patents and not even perform a
> search for them, see
> 
>         http://www.epo.co.at/news/pressrel/2001_08_13_e.htm
>         http://swpat.ffii.org/news/epon023/
> 
> -- 
> Hartmut Pilch, FFII & Eurolinux Alliance              tel. +49-89-12789608  
>  
> Protecting Innovation against Patent Inflation             
> http://swpat.ffii.org/
> 135,000 signatures against software patents      http://www.noepatents.org/
> 
> 
> 

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