Software Patents (UK, EU, U.S.)

Summary

This practice note discusses how software or computer programs can be patented in the UK and other commercially important regimes of the European Patent Office (EPO) as well as in the U.S. In all of these jurisdictions, various tests have been developed to assist in deciding where the boundaries of the statutory rules lie, since in general terms it is only "pure" software inventions (absent any other advantage) that are unpatentable.