European Software Patents "Bilski"

("Bilski" being a recent US legal case that may have reduced the scope
of software patents.)

"# European Bilski: The Enlarged Board of Appeal of the EPO is looking
for third-party input on four issues:

  1. Is it only proper to exclude patents covering computer programs
as such when explicitly claimed as a "computer program"?
  2. Does a claim avoid the computer program as such exclusion by
mentioning a computer or data storage medium? (If not, what technical
effect is needed?)
  3. Can a technical effect be non-physical? Is it sufficient if the
physical entity is an unspecified computer?
  4. Does the activity of programming a computer necessarily involve
technical considerations?

# Input on the European questions are due by the end of April.
http://www.epo.org/topics/news/2009/20090219.html."

http://www.patentlyo.com/patent/2009/03/patently-o-bits-and-bytes-1.html

(via Groklaw)