EPO vs. software
10 June 2010The Enlarged Board of Appeal of the EPO, with decision G 3/08 of 12.05.2010, has considered inadmissible the four questions referred to in October 2008 by the President of the EPO concerning the patentability of software in the European Patent Convention.
In particular, it is stated that recent decisions (T 1173/97, IBM (OJ EPO 1999, 609) and T 424/03, Microsoft del 24.02.2006) represent different positions in terms of patentability of software, but it is also affirmed that this is to be considered as a natural development in this matter, also considering that, in new legal and/or technical fields, the case law does not always develop in linear fashion, and that earlier approaches may be abandoned or modified.
