Re: [Patents] newsscan: Software patent limits 'go too far'

[Jean-Baptiste Soufron <jbsoufron@free.fr>]

On Thu, 23 Oct 2003 11:19:46 +0100
Rui Miguel Seabra <rms@1407.org> wrote:

> Huh... A washing machine that uses wetness and heat in an extremely
> innovative way probably should be patented, even if it makes use of
> software. However, the software part is not an invention and should
> never be patented.

Still, this is your intepretation. 

And here is the interpretation of the EPO : 

The article 3 just says that items listed in article 2 cannot be
patented when people try to patent them alone. To the contrary, it also
mean that items listed in article 2 can be patented if they are not
patented alone. Then softwares can be patented when they are part of a
patentable invention. 

It's a classical "Principle->Contrary->Exception" legal interpretation.
Sometimes it ends in very good things for society... sometimes it ends
in accepting software patents. 
 
You should concentrate more on the consequences of these 2
interpretations from legal, economic and social points of view than on
the interpretation in itself. 

Jean-Baptiste Soufron