Recent EPO Decisions on Business Method Patents

Abstract

This report examines some recent European Patent Office (EPO) Board of Appeal decisions on business method patents. According to the European Patent Convention (EPC), methods for doing business are not regarded as inventions if they’re claimed “as such” in a patent application. In most cases, EP patent applications on business method patents are rejected for lack of an inventive step and not according to Art. 52 (2) (c) of the European Patent Convention (EPC). A state-of-the-art search in the “technical field” of business methods is also presented.