Under current EU legislation, computer programs are protected by
copyright as literary expressions, but are, in theory, excluded
from patentability.
Due to exceptions to this exclusion and differing
interpretations of these exceptions in the EU’s Member States,
thousands of software patents are registered in Europe every year.
The EU’s new proposal will harmonise the laws of Member States.
The proposal states that:
"Member States shall ensure that a
computer-implemented invention is patentable on the condition that
it is susceptible of industrial application, is new, and involves
an inventive step."
"Member States shall ensure that it is a
condition of involving an inventive step that a
computer-implemented invention must make a technical
contribution."
A “technical contribution” is defined as a “contribution to the
state of the art in a technical field which is not obvious to a
person skilled in the art.”
The Directive will only create a general framework, and Member
States’ patent laws will remain the basis for future
developments.
