Computer programs are patentable. So what?

摘要

The idea that computer programs cannot be patented is now correctly understood, by most, to be fiction. There is still considerable confusion, however, due in part to the noises from the open source software lobby groups when the draft EU 'Directive On The Patentability Of Computer-Implemented Inventions' was being debated by the European Parliament. The fact is that the anti-software patent groups shot themselves in their collective foot with their efforts. The Directive would have imposed additional limitations on the patentability of software. Its rejection by the European Parliament in July 2005 allowed the European Patent Office (EPO), which grants the overwhelming majority of patent rights in Europe, to continue doing what it had been for years - granting patents for software inventions that provide a 'technical contribution'.