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--> [ Program Claims | Interoperability | "Computer-Implemented Inventions" ]

Program Claims are patent claims of the form

• computer program, upon whose loading into the memory of a computer system the computation process according to Claim N is executed.

The wording "computer program" in the above can be replaced by "program on disk", "computer program product", "data structure", "computer readable medium" or other variants. The point is that the object of the claim is no longer a material product or process but a construct consisting of data, information or other abstract entities, optionally in combination with an unspecified and non-inventive carrier medium.

• Commission had strong reservations (2004-04) against program claims deception (Article 5.2)

• Ambiguity in German council translations. Meaning of Article 5.2 in revised translation slightly shifted (German)

Example of a program claim

• Method and device for evaluating visits to web pages "17. Computer programme for implementing a method as claimed in

  • any one of claims 2 to 12 [...]
  1. Computer programme as claimed in claim 17, recorded on a
     • medium readable by a computer."

• Same example in Swedish: Förfarande och anordning för utvärdering av konsultationer av webbsajter "17. Dataprogram för utförande av ett förfarande enligt något

  • av patentkraven 2-12 [...]
  1. Dataprogram enligt patentkrav 17, vilket är registrerat på
     • ett av en dator läsbart medium."

program claim search results

• Google hits on "The computer program product of claim" in ffii patent data base

Bolkestein`s whole solution teaching (2003-09-23 Euparl)

"Patents are about solutions to technical problems and a patent has to cover the whole, not just a small part, of the solution to a problem. It is only infringed if the whole solution is used. It does not, therefore, monopolise every separate component part which contributes to the solution."