> With regards to TRIPS, I don't think anyone allows patents of Maths. Well, TRIPS only sets a minimum of what has to be patentable.
Countries can allow patents on math or software if they like. In the US, a CAFC judge recently ruled that software is math, and math is patentable if "as a practical matter, the use of a computer is required". http://www.cafc.uscourts.gov/images/stories/opinions-orders/09-1358.pdf > And Europe clearly excludes "Software as such", and this was tested in > their parliament. The law (EPC art 52) excludes "software as such", but the European Patent Office grants software patents anyway, and the courts sometimes uphold them. So in a theoretical sense (just reading the law), there are no valid software patents in Europe. But if you ask a software developer who's been threatened with EPO-granted patents, or who's been found guilty of patent infringement by a judge, they'll tell you that software patents are quite real in Europe :-( The Symbian and Halliburton rulings in the UK are two examples: http://en.swpat.org/wiki/The_Halliburton_rulings_by_UK_High_Court_-_2006-2011 http://en.swpat.org/wiki/Symbian_v._Comptroller_General_%282008,_UK%29 There's also an example in Germany, and one I've yet to confirm in the Netherlands. http://en.swpat.org/wiki/Software_patents_exist_in_Europe,_kinda There's also a page there about free software exceptions: http://en.swpat.org/wiki/Free_software_exception (en.swpat.org is the publicly-editable wiki hosted by ESP. You're all invited to add to and develop it.) -- +32 485 118 029 (<-NEW), http://ciaran.compsoc.com Please help build the software patents wiki: http://en.swpat.org http://www.EndSoftwarePatents.org Donate: http://endsoftwarepatents.org/donate List: http://campaigns.fsf.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/esp-action-alert _______________________________________________ Free-software-melb mailing list Free-software-melb@lists.softwarefreedom.com.au http://lists.softwarefreedom.com.au/mailman/listinfo/free-software-melb