Re: Technology tool being patented in Europe

["Charlie Gordon" <gmane@chqrlie.org>]

Verum makes no reference to this or any patent on their website
www.verum.com
They mustn't be too proud of this feat...
This patent seems to cover what Howe describes in his own pathetic words, as
'a mathematical solution' !
Voodoo is what they must have used to get the UK patent office to bend the
rules !
It's what he plays on the media now, waving the patent certificate as proof
of their brilliance.
Hey! it worked with the UK patent agents, let's try the public now !

Can anyone post the claims so we can analyse them for real ?
Search on the UK patent office at http://gb.espacenet.com/ doesn't return
anything yet

Charlie Gordon.


"Gregory Aharonian" <srctran@world.std.com> wrote in message
200405270243.i4R2h7AN010982@world.std.com">news:200405270243.i4R2h7AN010982@world.std.com...
>
> A UK startup is seeking patent protection for a new technology tool they
> are developing.  I hope they make lots of money doing so.
> Greg Aharonian
>
>
> Verum gains patent for software design methodology
> By Colin Holland, EETimes UK, 26 May 2004
> www.eetuk.com
>
> LONDON - Verum Consultants, the European start-up focussed on reducing
> errors in software, has been awarded patent protection in 170 countries
> for its Analytical Software Design (ASD) process.
>
> Verum believes that the patent is groundbreaking as it is extremely rare
> for a software methodology to be granted patent protection. Typically
> patent agents regard software as an art form and intellectual property
> protection is limited to copyright.
>
> Robert Howe, CEO at Verum, said, "The granting of patent protection to
> Verum's Analytical Software Design (ASD) demonstrates that it is not
> simply yet another voodoo methodology, but a credible mathematical
> solution to many of the problems that face architects and designers
> charged with designing complex software systems."
>
> ASD brings engineering design discipline and mathematical rigor to the
> development of software design in order to eliminate errors and reduce
> rework. Verum developed the technique in conjunction with the Computing
> Laboratory at the University of Oxford.
>
> Professor Bill Roscoe, director of Oxford University Computing Laboratory,
> said, "I am excited because Verum can seemingly eliminate many of the
> practical problems in the industrial application of formal methods. They
do
> this by automatically translating their software specifications and
designs
> to the input of FDR, a tool I helped to develop."
>
> ASD enables the specification for a software programme to be written in
> simple terms that are comprehensible to the layperson. The technique
> generates a series of models that can be used to test the software's
> accuracy against the original specification.
>
> Verum's patent (Number GB 0410047.5) covers the Analytical Software
> Design Technology (ASD) process, whereby informal specifications are
> converted to CSP models. It also covers the mathematical bridge between
> Sequence Based Specification (SBS) and Box Structured Development Method
> (BSDM) elements of ASD and CSP, and the modifications that Verum has
> made to SBS and BSDM to make this bridge possible.
>
>