NIPC Law

On 8 Dec 2008 Sean Dennehey signed a new practice note on the patenmtability of computer programs to take account of the CA's decision in Symbian . T he main changes relate to: what constitutes a technical contribution for the purpose of determing whether a program is patentable; and clarificaiton of the exclusions in s.1 of the Patents Act 1977. Technical Contribution The Intellectual Property Office had previously recognized inventions that either solve technical problems external to a computer or solve "a technical problem within the computer" as potentially patentable inventions. The sea change of Symbian  is that  "improving the operation of a computer by solving a problem arising from the way the computer was programmed - for example, a tendency to crash due to conflicting library program calls - can also be regarded as solving "a technical problem within the computer" if it leads to a more reliable computer. Thus, a program that results in a computer...

C olin Birss QC is giving a talk for the AIPPI at Allen & Overy on Symbian entitled " Symbian: Where do we stand now? " on 4 De c .   It should be good.   I have heard Colin speak before. The cost is only £20 and if I can find time to get to London I shall be there. For those who can't make that event,  NIPC Training  is also discussing Symbian and linking it with Bilski at Liverpool on 5 Feb 2009 (see  "Software Protection after  Symbian  and  Bilski"    o n www.nipc-training.co.uk .  I shall be speaking as will Robin Bartle of WP Thompson. Kirwans have also promised a speaker and we have invited contributions from the IP Office, Intellect and the NCC. You can register an interest by completing the on-line form. Symbian is a very important case.   You can read my post on the case below.