Software Patent / Computer-related Invention

While in the past the generalised view that software is not patentable often prevailed, the welcome opinion has now become established in case law and literature that a wide variety of software-related or computer-implemented inventions are indeed patentable and that this is also compatible with the applicable legal provisions according to which programs for data processing equipment as such are not to be regarded as patentable inventions. German case law now places computer programs largely on a par with other technical developments, so that they too are patentable if they are new and inventive and solve technical problems or use technical means to solve problems. However, only the usual expert implementation of known processes by a computer program will still not be able to lead to a patent.

The European Patent Office generally considers a computer program to be patentable if, when running on a computer, it produces "a further technical effect beyond the 'normal' physical interaction between the program and the computer". This may be the case, for example, if the software enables better memory usage or higher processing speed.

Developers and engineers can therefore be generally recommended to abandon the outdated but still partly held idea that computer software is not eligible for patent protection. Rather, it should be examined on a case-by-case basis, with the help of expert advice, also in the case of developments in the field of computer software, as in all other fields of technology, whether development results can be protected by patent rights from being taken over by competitors, which would otherwise be largely unchallenged. We have been advising and representing our clients in the field of software patents for many years and have been able to obtain numerous patent grants.