Editing Software patent (section)

===Europe===
{{Main|Software patents under the European Patent Convention}}
Within European Union member states, the EPO and other national patent offices have issued many patents for inventions involving software since the [[European Patent Convention]] (EPC) came into force in the late 1970s. {{EPC Article|52}} excludes "programs for computers" from patentability (Art. 52(2)) to the extent that a patent application relates to a computer program "as such" (Art. 52(3)). This has been interpreted to mean that any invention that makes a non-obvious "technical contribution" or solves a "technical problem" in a non-obvious way is patentable even if that technical problem is solved by running a computer program.<ref name="t0469/03">{{citation|title=DECISION of 24 February 2006, Case Number: T 0469/03 – 3.5.01|pages=Reasons 5.1 to 5.3|publisher=European Patent Office, Boards of Appeal|date=24 February 2006|url=https://www.epo.org/law-practice/case-law-appeals/recent/t030469eu1.html}}</ref> When the EPO examines a patent application with questionable subject matter eligibility, their approach is to simply{{Dubious |date=April 2023 |reason=Identifying ineligible portions or aspects is not always "simple".}} disregard any ineligible portions or aspects and evaluate the rest.<ref>{{EPO Guidelines|g|vii|5|4}}</ref> This is notably different from the U.S. approach (see below).

Computer-implemented inventions that ''only'' solve a business problem using a computer, rather than a technical problem, are considered unpatentable as lacking an inventive step (see [[T 258/03]]). Nevertheless, the fact that an invention is useful in business does not mean it is not patentable if it also solves a technical problem.

A summary of the developments concerning patentability of computer programs under the European Patent Convention is given in (see [[G 3/08]]) as a response of the Enlarged Board of Appeal to questions filed by the President of the European Patent Office according to {{EPC Article|112|1|b}}.{{Update after|2022|01|1|reason=The most recent decision G 1/19 of the Enlarged Board of Appeal should ideally be discussed as well.}}

Concerns have been raised by free software campaigners, such as the [[Free Software Foundation]], that the [[Unified Patent Court]] will be much more open to patents generally and software patents in particular.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://endsoftpatents.org/pages/unitary-patent/|title=End Software Patents}}<br/>{{cite web|url=https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/europes-unitary-patent.en.html|title=Europe's "unitary patent" could mean unlimited software patents}}<br/>{{cite web|url=http://en.swpat.org/wiki/EU_unitary_patent_and_Unified_Patent_Court|title=EU unitary patent and Unified Patent Court}}</ref>

====Germany====
In April 2013, the [[German Parliament]] adopted a joint motion "against the growing trend of patent offices to grant patents on software programs".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ip-watch.org/2013/04/22/german-parliament-sends-message-stop-granting-software-patents|title=German Parliament Sends Message: Stop Granting Software Patents|last1=Ermert|first1=Monika|date=22 April 2013|work=Intellectual Property Watch|access-date=April 29, 2013}}</ref>

====United Kingdom====
{{Main|Software patents under United Kingdom patent law}}
United Kingdom patent law is interpreted to have the same effect as the [[European Patent Convention]] such that "programs for computers" are excluded from patentability to the extent that a patent application relates to a computer program "as such". Current case law in the UK states that an (alleged) invention will only be regarded as an invention if it provides a contribution that is not excluded and that is also technical. A computer program implementing a business process is therefore not an invention, but a computer program implementing an industrial process may well be.