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So far computer-implemented solutions (computer programs) are not patentable inventions according to European law. This doesn't mean that a patentable manufacturing process may not be controlled by software. However the European Patent Office and some national courts have gradually blurred the formerly sharp boundaries.
Stefan Schohe 1999: The Present Status of Software Protection in Europe and Germany -- a fairly lucid account by a patent attorney of the changes that led to the call for EPC revision and for a EU directive.
