July came with four new decisions in the
EUROPEAN SOFTWARE PATENTS
knowledge base relating to graphical user interfaces,
computer security, business methods and internal
control:
Patents for graphical user interfaces
Improvements in
graphical user interfaces are sometimes
difficult to protect with patents when they are closely related to
the presentation of information (which is as such excluded from
patentability).
In one case, the European Patent Office refused to grant a
software patent on a method of unlocking a device by performing gestures on an
unlock image. The decisive argument was that giving visual
indications about conditions prevailing in an apparatus or system
can only be considered a technical problem if these are technical
conditions. However, providing reassuring feedback – i.e. a
confirmation that the user has been doing the right thing so far
– was not in itself considered a technical effect.
