IBM Corporation/Data processor network: EPO 1990

A new method of communicating between programs and data files within the computer, so that they operated effectively as a single entity, was held by the Board to be properly ‘regarded as solving a problem which is essentially technical’ and therefore it did not fall foul of art 52(2). While programs for computers were included in the items listed in Article 52(2), if the claimed subject matter had a technical character it was not excluded from patentability.

Citations:

[1990] EPOR 91, 06/83

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

CitedLantana Ltd v The Comptroller General of Patents, Design and Trade Marks CA 13-Nov-2014
The inventor company appealed against rejection of its application for a patent for a computer program.
Held: The appeal failed: ‘on the facts found by the Hearing Officer, the invention is no more than the computerisation of a process which . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Intellectual Property

Updated: 20 May 2022; Ref: scu.538770