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Software and Internet Business Internet-implemented business applications of software constitute a relatively rapidly evolving area of patent law and practice. The extent to which software is patentable varies from country to country. Some aspects of software, but not its essential functionality, are protectable by copyright. We shall be pleased to advise on protecting your software effectively. It may surprise you that in this area of the law, the personal experience of Bob Barrigar goes back more than 30 years. Bob's engineering physics/electronics education is optimum for this area of practice. Bob's early expertise was acquired primarily in our Ottawa and Toronto offices. He was one of the first Canadian patent counsel to handle computer-related subject-matter. The case Waldbaum v. Commissioner, on which he was lead counsel, was the first Canadian decision on the patentability of software. Bob represented Bell Labs on the patent application and on the successful appeal. The patent that Bob obtained for David Homa's software-based accounting invention was the first or one of the first patents ever granted in Canada for business-related software inventions, and is one of the largest-selling patents of any kind in the history of the Canadian Patent Office. Bob had the rare distinction of participating in the writing of an amicus curiae brief submitted to the Supreme Court of the United States on behalf of the American Patent Law Association in the leading software case Parker v. Flook. Bob and others of our firm have represented internet companies, computer hardware companies, software companies, and telecommunications companies in obtaining patent and copyright protection, and in litigating and otherwise enforcing their rights. The media have reported that internet-related business applications of software are considered patentable in the U.S. as a result of the State Street Bank decision and other recent cases. It has always been possible to obtain patents for business methods that require some sort of technical infrastructure (e.g., the use of computers or the internet) for their implementation, and whose inventive step is based on something more than mere human decisions and actions or mere mathematics. In the U.S. but not elsewhere, patens for business systems and methodology that are not dependent on the use of technical infrastructure may in some cases be obtained. Note that in many situations, our advice about a given software or internet patenting opportunity is likely to be - forget it, it will take too long, present unsurmountable enforcement problems, and so forth. Often a patent, if obtainable at all, will be granted too late to be effective, given the rapid evolution of systems, infrastructure and technology - by the time the patent is granted, the technology may be obsolete. No two cases are alike; we'll try to guide you to the right answer for your situation. |
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here written constitutes legal advice. The accuracy of what is written
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