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Archive for: European Patent Office

Patent law, case file II GSK 85/11

November 22nd, 2010, Tomasz Rychlicki

The Voivodeship Administrative Court in Warsaw in its judgment of 30 June 2010 case file VI SA/Wa 595/10 held that the terms “solution of a technical nature” or “technology” are not defined in the European Patent Convention. Thus, the development of these concepts depends on the practice of the EPO. There is no doubt that in practice, the EPO is using much more liberal criteria for assessing the patentability of computer-implemented inventions than in the initial period of application of the EPC. However, this position was not accepted by all parties to the Convention. In addition, the Enlarged Board of Appeal on 12 May 2010, refused to resolve the problem presented by the President of the EPO, on the interpretation of the exclusion of computer programs “as such” in the context of the criteria for patentability of inventions relating to computer programs, leaving the question to practice. It can be concluded that the practice of liberalization of evaluation criteria for patentability of computer-implemented inventions was not accepted by all experts of the EPO. There are cases of the EPO that were based on the same provisions of the Convention but came with divergent decisions, as well as cases in which almost identical provisions of the Convention and national laws are interpreted, respectively, by the EPO or national bodies in different ways. This case concerned the International Patent Application PCT/EP99/08958 “Record carrier, apparatus and method for playing back a record carrier, method of manufacturing a record carrier”.

The Supreme Administrative Court in its judgment of 19 March 2012 case file II GSK 85/11 reversed the contested judgment and the decision of the PPO. The Court held that the decree of the President of the Polish Patent Office on the patentability of inventions has an internal character, and it can not be the basis of the justification of the decision.

Patent law, case II GSK 245/10

March 18th, 2010, Tomasz Rychlicki

The Voivodeship Administrative Court in a judgment of 15 November 2009, case file VI SA/Wa 906/09 ruled that the scope of the European patent is the same as in the case of a national patent granted, and the case law of individual member states presents different approaches to the examination of the patentability of inventions using computer software. Article 27 of the PCT cannot be treated as a ban on the use of individual interpretation to assess the patentability of the invention for the protection of which one is applying. Article 27(5) of the PCT provides that the contracting States have flexibility in setting the conditions for patentability.

In this case, the PPO exhaustively referred to the fact of the grant of an European patent for the questioned invention and indicated the reasons for which it did not grant patent rights in Poland. Undoubtedly for the VAC, it was hard not to notice the importance of the referral by the President of the European Patent Office (EPO), to the Enlarged Board of Appeal of the EPO on the fundamental issues relating to the interpretation of articles 52 EPC in relation to computer programs. See case G 3/08, application filed on 22 October 2008. The questions asked by Alison Brimelow reflect the concerns and divergent interpretations which source is located in the line of EPO case law aiming to over-extend the concept of “patentability of inventions”. At the date of hearing of the case the mentioned referral was not considered by the Enlarged Board of Appeal of the EPO. Therefore, the unified position on the examination of the patentability of inventions using computer programs/software, which could be addressed by Member bound by EPC, did not exist yet. Given the above, the VAC held that the complaint should be dismissed because it did not include proper basis.

The Supreme Administrative Court in its judgment of 10 February 2011 case file II GSK 245/10 reversed this judgment and set the case back to the VAC for reconsideration.

See also “Patent law, case VI SA/Wa 2566/08“.

Patent law, case VI SA/Wa 1525/09

March 15th, 2010, Tomasz Rychlicki

On September 2008, the Polish Patent Office (PPO) refused to grant a patent for an invention entitled “method and device for access to the telecommunications network and for accounting telecommunications services”. The PPO held that this invention is not a technical solution. The applicant filed a complaint to the administrative court. The Voivodeship Administrative Court (VAC) in Warsaw, in a judgment of 25 February 2010, case file VI SA/Wa 1525/09 annulled the decision, however, the VAC did not agree with applicant’s arguments that the PPO had to take under the consideration earlier decision of the EPO on the grant of the patent for the questioned invention. The Court held that the Polish Patent Office is not obliged to take into account in its assessment that was made from the perspective of the f the Polish Act of 30 June 2000 on Industrial Property Law – IPL – (in Polish: ustawa Prawo własności przemysłowej) of 30 June 2000, published in Journal of Laws (Dziennik Ustaw) of 2001 No. 49, item 508, consolidated text on 13 June 2003, Journal of Laws (Dziennik Ustaw) No. 119, item 1117, with later amendments, the assessment that was carried out by the European Patent Office and its interpretation of the applicable law.

Categories: Art. 37 IPL | European Patent Convention | European Patent Office | patentable subject matter | Voivodeship Administrative Court.

Patent law, case VI SA/Wa 2566/08

October 13th, 2009, Tomasz Rychlicki

The Voivodeship Administrative Court in Warsaw in its judgment of 10 June 2009 case file VI SA/Wa 2566/08 held that it is up to the Polish Patent Office (PPO) to reconsider the matter in its entirety and refer to the statements and allegations contained in the request for the reconsideration of the case, taking into account the above guidance and administrative procedures by which the PPO is bound.

Looks like no big deal, right? But if you could read the whole judgment, which unfortunately is not available in English, you would understand that the Polish Patent Office will have to issue an opinion, and will have to justify and explain it appropriately, on the subject what is an invention and what is a computer program and why the PPO does not grant patents to so-called “digital” solutions.

In this context, I look forward to the EPO decision in G 3/08 case and to the SCOTUS’ judgment In re Bilski, 545 F.3d 943, 88 U.S.P.Q.2d 1385 (Fed. Cir. 2008).