Software and Patents in Europe by Philip Leith

Software and Patents in Europe by Philip Leith

The computer program exclusion from Article 52 of the European Patent Convention (EPC) proved impossible to uphold as industry moved over to digital technology, and the Boards of Appeal of the European Patent Organisation (EPO) felt emboldened to circumvent the EPC in Vicom by creating the legal fiction of 'technical effect'. This 'engineer's solution' emphasised that protection should be available for a device, a situation which has led to software and business methods being protected throughout Europe when the form of application, rather than the substance, is acceptable. Since the Article 52 exclusion has effectively vanished, this text examines what makes examination of software invention difficult and what leads to such energetic opposition to protecting inventive activity in the software field. Leith advocates a more programming-centric approach, which recognises that software examination requires different strategies from that of other technical fields.

Philip Leith is Professor of Law at Queen's University of Belfast, UK.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780521329620
ISBN 10	0521329620
Title	Software and Patents in Europe
Author	Philip Leith
Series	Cambridge Intellectual Property And Information Law
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Cambridge University Press
Year published	2011-06-30
Number of pages	214
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
Note	Unavailable