Intellectual Property Client Alert: European Patent Office Takes hard Line Against Business Method Patents
8/1/2001
This advisory addresses the European Patent Office's (EPO) reiteration of its view that methods of doing business per se are excluded from patentability pursuant to Article 52 (2)(c) and (3) EPC. The EPO also stated that in both European and Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) applications, claims to such methods, in the absence of any "apparent technical effect," will not even be searched because there is no useful purpose in doing so. The advisory proceeds to explain how the U.S. and Europe remain sharply divided on the patentability of business methods.
