In common with many patent offices around the world, some
inventions that are implemented in software may be patented before
the EPO.
In this chapter, we explore software patentability covering why
only some software inventions are patentable before the EPO, the
requirements for an invention to be patentable and how patent
practice before the EPO with respect to software inventions may
evolve in the future.
EPC
The European Patent Convention (EPC) is the statute under which
the EPO operates to determine the grant of European patents. The
EPC defines that European patents will be granted in all fields of
technology, but excludes a specific list of subject matter from
being considered as inventions, which includes, inter
alia, mathematical methods, methods for doing business and
computer programs. These exceptions from patentability have been
described as relating to activities that do not aim at any direct
technical result but rather are of an abstract and
