Proposed Directive On The Patentability of Computer-implemented Inventions - Aftermath

Aftermath

As the directive was rejected, pre-existing law has remained in place, and computer-implemented inventions are currently governed by Article 52 of European Patent Convention. Article 52 prohibits certain patents, including patents on programs for computers, but only as such. It is often interpreted by European Patent Office as well as by courts in EU countries, that invention should have technical character. For example, while a mathematical method is not patentable, an electrical filter designed according to this method would not usually be excluded from patentability by Article 52(2) and (3).

Final interpretation of the law in this area thus continues to be the responsibility of national courts, following national case-law (except when a European patent application is refused or when a European patent is revoked in opposition proceedings before the EPO, in which case the EPO has the final say regarding the interpretation of the EPC).