IBM/ComputerPrograms 2000 EPOR 219
Citation: IBM/ComputerPrograms 2000 EPOR 219
Rule of thumb: Can computer software be registered as a patent? If it is capable of being literally built literally as a structure then yes it can.
Judgment:
The Court held that if a computer programme can bring about a new physical effect in practice then it is potentially patentable, ‘... if a computer program is capable of bringing about, when running on a computer, a further technical effect going beyond... normal physical effect, it is not excluded from patentability...’
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