Software and business method patents are controversial. Large companies often argue that they are necessary to make innovation financially viable; smaller companies often argue that they stifle innovation. The US and Japan currently offer the most lenient rules for those hoping to obtain such patents. Many had expected the EU to relax its own rules on patentability. Instead, the European Commission last week published rules that maintain a general prohibition on software. The permitted exceptions to this general prohibition were, if anything, narrowed in scope.
According to The Japan Times, the proposed revisions to Japan’s laws would clarify patent protections for software existing only on the internet as well as trade marks displayed temporarily on computer screens although full details were not reported. The patent application process will also be simplified.
