| Are computer software-related inventions considered patentable subject matter? |
Yes.
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| Requirements for patentability |
A mode or manner of achieving an end result that is an artificially created state of affairs of utility in the field of economic endeavor.
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| Patent Office position on patentability |
The Patent Office will look to see whether the software has resulted in a component being physically affected or the state of information in some part of a machine altered. These changes do not need to be physically observable such that the changes produce a tangible product. Thus instructions executed by a computer so as to achieve a desired result can be patentable.
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| Process claim |
Yes. A patent covering an article may also provide protection for a process of producing or utilizing that article. Frequently, however, a patent is sought expressly for a specified process. (Volume 2, Australian Patent Office Manual of Practice and Procedure (Manual)).
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| Apparatus claim |
Yes.
e.g. An apparatus for X, the apparatus including a, b and c.
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| Product or medium claim |
Yes.
e.g. "A computer readable memory having recorded thereon statements and instructions for execution by a computer to X."
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| Signal Claim |
Yes.
e.g. A computer data signal embodied in a carrier wave and representing a sequence of instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to X. |
| Data structure claim |
Yes.
e.g. “A computer readable memory containing data with a structure capable of causing a computer to operate in a particular manner, the structure comprising a, b and c."
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| Program claim |
Yes. Two decisions of the Federal Court of Australia have established that computer program claims per se are patentable.
e.g. “A computer program element comprising a computer program code means to make the computer execute a, b and c.”
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| Are business method inventions considered patentable subject matter? |
Yes. Business method inventions are subject to the same legal requirements for patentability as are those that are applied to any other process or product.
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| Patent Office position on patentability |
Business methods are protectable in practice but methods of doing business will be objected to if they relate to mere concepts or ideas, schemes, plans or working directions. (see Grant v Commissioner of Patents [2006] FCAFC 120)
The technical environment in which the business method is implemented should be included in the claims.
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| Examples of issued business method patents. |
The Amazon "one-click" case has been accepted in Australia.
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