Tag Archives: software patent

Patents Bill update

Posted on by
Reply

Not much has happened with the Patents Bill since it was reported back from the Commerce Committee last year. It remains unpassed following the pre-election dissolution of Parliament, and will be picked up by the new Parliament next year.

Meanwhile, it seems that lobbying efforts to overturn the unanimously endorsed software patent exclusion have, so far, fallen on deaf ears. At the NetVision 2011 Election Debate held on 18 October, both National (via Steven Joyce) and Labour (via Clare Curran) confirmed that their parties remained committed to the software patent exclusion as recommended by the Commerce Committee. The Greens also confirmed it as their policy.

Video of the event is available here, with the discussion on software patents starting at around 28:20 of part 2.

Software Patents – IPONZ explanatory note

Posted on by
1

IPONZ has published a draft explanatory note on the patentability of computer programs based on the Patents Bill (as currently drafted). Fortunately, the good people at IPONZ have not had the same difficulty in understanding the clear exclusion of computer programs that a small number of patent attorneys seem to have had.

They also appear to have sifted through several submissions from patent attorneys that sought to relitigate the Bill itself in amusingly emotive terms, rather than just comment on the guidelines as requested.

IPONZ has provided a clear, concise note. Some extracts:

31. Many of the interested parties who made submissions on the draft guidelines argued that the Commerce Select Committee intended that so-called “embedded” computer programs should remain patentable, with other “non-embedded” computer programs being excluded from patent protection. However, it is clear from the Committee’s report that the Committee rejected the idea of making a distinction between “embedded” and “non-embedded” computer programs in this way.

32. Instead, the Committee decided to recommend a simple exclusion, as this would exclude computer programs from patent protection, but would not prevent the grant of patents for inventions involving “embedded”computer programs. It seems clear from these comments that the Committee did not intend that the mere fact that an invention involves a computer program should be sufficient, in itself, to make an invention unpatentable.

That is exactly right. For whatever reason, some patent attorneys seemed to have great difficulty with that simple proposition, and much of the FUD being put out by those looking to overturn the software patent exclusion focused on the apparent “confusion” surrounding embedded software. The explanatory note succinctly summarises the Committee’s clear recommendation.

33. On this basis, computer programs are not patentable under clause 15(3A), whether or not they are “embedded” programs. However, inventions that involve a computer program (as opposed to inventions which are a computer program) are likely to fall outside the scope of clause 15(3A) and be patentable.

Which is how other patentable inventions, containing non-patentable constituent parts, are treated.

34. … The exclusion cannot be avoided by claiming the program in combination with conventional computing hardware. Such claims are effectively claims to the computer program and allowing them would circumvent the purpose of the exclusion.

35. For example, claims to the computer program when running on a suitable computer, or claims to the program recorded on a carrier such as a disk or memory card would not be allowable. On this basis claims of the form “a computer program product comprising computer program code adapted, when loaded on a computer, to do X” (so-called Beauregard claims) will be rejected.

This is good. There can be a lot of nonsense to try to avoid exclusions. By definition, all software runs on a computer, so a claim that the invention is the program “when running” should hardly be expected to avoid a computer program exclusion.

One thorny issue on the periphery of the software patent debate is business method patents. They are really a separate issue (controversy). The note makes a only few comments on them, including:

41. Where the contribution is assessed as a method or process that falls outside the computer program exclusion, claims to a computer program that would cause a suitable computer to carry out the method may be allowable.

The progress of the Bill remains understandably low priority, and its future is also somewhat uncertain given that a new Minister will take over the Bill from Simon Power. However MPs at last month’s NetHui said that Simon Power had that week advised that the software exclusion would remain (confirming earlier statements).

Software patents and venture capital

Posted on by
Reply

An argument often made against banning software patents is that doing so might discourage venture capitalists from investing in the industry. However, actual comments by VCs, as well as evidence from the New Zealand IT industry supports banning software patents.

Now another prominent US venture capitalist, Fred Wilson, has spoken out against software patents in unequivocal terms:

I believe that software patents should not exist. They are a tax on innovation. And software is closer to media than it is to hardware. Patenting software is like patenting music.

This aligns with the Government’s stated position (adopting the unanimous Commerce Committee recommendations) that software patents “stifle innovation and restrict competition”.

It may take a while yet for the US to overhaul its patent system and the status of software patents in it is unknown, but it appears that the New Zealand reform (if adopted) will provide a far-sighted alignment with industry and venture capitalist views.

Patents Bill 2010 update

Posted on by
Reply

With all the other things on Parliament’s plate, it’s not surprising that the new Patents Bill 2010 is way down the Order Paper – at number 44 of 52 (though I see it has overtaken the Dog Control Order).

However, it seems the Government is sticking by the unanimous Commerce Committee recommendation to exclude computer programs from patentability, as confirmed to me last week by Commerce Minister Simon Power:

The software patent affair

Posted on by
2

Law firm Chapman Tripp has published an article criticising the Government’s decision to exclude software from patentability. While the article makes some valid points, it does not deal with some points fairly.

The article claims:

The [software patent] exclusion was the product of intense and successful lobbying by members of the “free and open source” software movement… In its April 2010 report to Parliament on the Patents Bill, the Commerce Select Committee acknowledged that the free software movement had convinced it that computer programs should be excluded from patentability.

I’m sure this assertion of mighty lobbying power (the ability to sway an all-party, unanimous recommendation no less) would be flattering to any professional lobbyist, let alone FOSS supporters – if only it were true (it is not evidenced in the Commerce Committee report). A range of entities made submissions against software patents, including the statutorily independent University of Otago, InternetNZ, a number of small businesses (and my independent self, I modestly add). There were also submissions the other way, though interestingly the most submissions in favour of retaining software patents were from patent attorney law firms. It is also notable that other organisations including NZICT, which is a strong supporter of software patents and engaged in heavy after-the-event lobbying, did not make any submissions on the issue.

The article adds the comment:

The Committee said that “software patents can stifle innovation and competition, and can be granted for trivial or existing techniques”. The Committee provided no analysis or data to support that proposition.

The fact that a Committee “provided no analysis or data” to support its recommendations is hardly noteworthy – that is not it’s job. Submitters provide analysis and data to the Committee, not the other way around. The material in support of the proposition is in the submissions.

The article sets up an unfair straw-man argument:

Free software proponents reckon that software should be free and, as a result, they generally oppose intellectual property rights. They say that IP rights lock away creativity and technology behind pay-walls which smother innovation. Most authors, inventors and entrepreneurs take the opposite view.

I don’t claim to know what “free software proponents’” views on all manner of IP rights are, but when it comes to software patents in New Zealand, the evidence strongly suggests that the “authors, inventors and entrepreneurs” of software (FOSS or not) are opposed to software patents (see my posts here and here). This includes major companies, including NZ’s biggest software exporter Orion Health (see Orion Health backs moves to block patents).

While the New Zealand Computer Society poll showing 81% member support for the exclusion is not scientific, it is at least indicative. In any case, opponents of the new law (mainly law firms) have consistently asserted a high level of opposition to the exclusion without any evidence to support that view.

The article leads to the warning:

If New Zealand enacted an outright ban on computer-implemented inventions we would be breaking international law. … Article 27(1) of TRIPs says that WTO members must make patents available for inventions “without discrimination as to… the field of technology…”.

The authors rightly point out that breaching TRIPs could result in legal action against the Government by another country. However, that conclusion is premised on the basis that software is an “invention”. A number of processes and outcomes are not recognised as inventions for the purpose of patent law in different countries, including mathematical algorithms and business methods. The question of whether software is (or should be) an invention was commented on by a Comptroller-General of the UK Patent Office:

Some have argued that the TRIPS agreement requires us to grant patents for software because it says “patents shall be available for any inventions … in all fields of technology, provided they are…..capable of industrial application”. However, it depends on how you interpret these words.

Is a piece of pure software an invention? European law says it isn’t.

The New Zealand Bill does not say that a computer program is an invention that is not patentable. It says, quite differently, that a computer program is “not a patentable invention”, along with human beings, surgical methods, etc.

Article 27 has reportedly rarely been tested (twice in 17 years), and never in relation to software. The risk of possibly receiving a complaint under a provision (untested) of a multilateral agreement is not new. The New Zealand Law Society notes this in its submission on the Patents Bill (which does not address software patents):

The proposal to exclude plant varieties under [the new Act] is because New Zealand has been in technical breach of the 1978 Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) treaty since it acceded to it in November 1981.

What’s 30 years of technical breach between friends? Therefore, in fairness I would add a “third way” of dealing with the software patent exclusion: leave it as it is, and see how it goes (which is, after all, what the local industry appears to want). As I wrote last year, “Pressure to conform with international norms (if one emerges) and trading partner requirements may force a change down the track, but the New Zealand decision was born of widely supported policy …”

If the ban on software patents as it currently stands does not make it into law (which is a possibility, despite clear statements from the Minister of Commerce that it will), it won’t be the end of the world. In fact, it will be the status quo. There are pro’s and con’s to software patents, and the authors are quite right that New Zealand will be going out on a limb by excluding them. The law can be changed again if need be. In the meantime, I refer again (unashamed self-cite) to my article covering the other, and much more popular, ways of protecting and commercialising software.

Software patents to remain excluded

Posted on by
Reply

The Government has cleared up the recent uncertainty about software patent reform by confirming that the proposed exclusion of software patents will proceed. A press release from Commerce Minister Simon Power said:

“My decision follows a meeting with the chair of the Commerce Committee where it was agreed that a further amendment to the bill is neither necessary nor desirable.”

During its consideration of the bill, the committee received many submissions opposing the granting of patents for computer programs on the grounds it would stifle innovation and restrict competition… The committee and the Minister accept this position.

Barring any last-minute flip-flop – which is most unlikely given the Minister’s unequivocal statement – s15 of the new Patents Act, once passed, will read:

15(3A) A computer program is not a patentable invention.

Lobbying

It is clear that the lobbying by pro-software patent industry group NZICT was unsuccessful, although Computerworld reports that its CEO apparently still holds out hope that “[IPONZ] will clarify the situation and bring this country’s law into line with the position in Europe and the UK, where software patents have been granted”. Hope does indeed spring eternal: the exclusion is clear and leaves no room for IPONZ to “clarify” it to permit software patents (embedded software is quite different- see below).

As I wrote earlier, it remains a mystery as to why NZICT, a professional and funded body, failed to make a single submission on the Patents Act reform process – they only had 8 years to do so – but instead engaged in private lobbying after the unanimous Select Committee decision had been made. It also did not (and still does not) have a policy paper on the subject, nor did it mention software patents once in its 17 November 2009 submission on “New Zealand’s research, science and technology priorities”. It is not as though the software patent issue had not been signalled – it was raised in the very first document in 2002. Despite this silence, it claims that software patents are actually critical to the IT industry it says it represents.

The New Zealand Computer Society, on the other hand, did put in a submission and has articulated a clear and balanced view representing the broader ICT community. It said today that “we believe this is great news for software innovation in New Zealand”.

Left vs right?

Is there a political angle to this? While some debate has presumed an open-vs-proprietary angle (a false premise) some I have chatted with have seen it as a left-vs-right issue, something Stephen Bell also alluded to (in a different context) in this interesting article.

Thankfully, it appears not. The revised Patents Bill was unanimously supported by the Commerce Committee, comprising members National, Labour, Act, the Greens, and Maori parties. It reported to Commerce Minister Simon Power (National) and Associate Minister Rodney Hide (Act). Unlike the previous Government’s Copyright Act reform, post-committee industry lobbying has not turned the Government.

What about business? NZICT apart, the exclusion of software patents has received the wide support of the New Zealand ICT industry, including (publicly) leading software exporters Orion Health and Jade, which as Paul Matthews notes represent around 50% of New Zealand’s software exports. The overwhelming majority of NZCS members support the change. Internationally, many venture capitalists and other non-bleeding-heart-liberal types have spoken out against software patents, on business grounds.

Some pro-software patent business owners might be miffed at a perceived lack of support from National or Act, perhaps assuming that software patents are a “right” and are valuable for their businesses. The reality is that only a handful of New Zealand companies have New Zealand software patents (I did see a figure quoted somewhere – will try to find it). Yes, they can be valuable if you have them but that is a separate issue (and remember, under the new Act no one loses existing patents). A capitalist, free market economy (and the less restrictive the better) abhors monopolies, and this decision benefits the majority of businesses in New Zealand. Strong IP protection is essential in modern society – including patents – (see my article “Protecting IP in a post-software patent environment“) but the extent of statutory protection when being reviewed will always come down to a perceived balance, not just for the minority holders of a patent (a private monopoly) but for the much larger majority artificially prevented from competing and innovating by that monopoly.

I have always taken pains to note, like NZCS, that there are pros and cons to software patents. And I am a fan of patents generally. Patents are good! But for software patents, the cons outweigh the pros. There are sound business reasons to exclude them. This specific part of the reform targets one specific area, has unanimous political party support (how rare is that?), and wide local business support. The last thing it can be seen as is an anti-business, left-wing policy (if it was, I’d have to oppose it!)

Embedded software

Inventions containing embedded software will remain, rightly, not excluded under the Patents Bill. Minister Power confirmed that IPONZ will develop guidelines for embedded software, which hopefully will set some clear parameters for applicants.

Software is essential to many inventions, and while that software itself will not be patentable, the invention it is a component of still may be. Some difficult conceptual issues can arise, but in most cases I don’t expect difficulties would arise. This “exception” (if it can be described as such) will not undermine the general exclusion for software patents.

SCOTUS kicks for touch on business method patents

Posted on by
Reply

The US Supreme Court has released its long-awaited Bilski decision involving business method patents. Many commentators had hoped that the case would provide a definitive statement on the patentability of business methods, and possibly other subject matter such as software patents, compression techniques and biotechnology. Instead, it seems the court has kicked for touch – or “taken a knee” in the American equivalent, I am informed.

The court ruled that the “machine or transformation” test was not the only criteria for determining patentability, but that there should not be “broad patentability” of business methods. Lower courts could continue developing limiting criteria. It upheld the lower court’s decision to reject Mr Bilski’s attempt to patent a method of financial hedging. But it left many questions, and some confusion, by not giving clear guidance on what’s patentable and what’s not.

Some comments:

Forbes.com:

The practical effect of the Bilski ruling will be limited, lawyers said, but it will definitely mean more lucrative patent litigation.

New York Times:

There were high hopes that the Supreme Court would clear things up in the mushy, litigation-filled realm of patents on methods of doing business.  [Bilski] was anything but a landmark decision. Still, there was a clear message for patent trolls, patent brokers and licensing companies, patent lawyers and lobbyists: Play on!

“The court is certainly not shutting the door on business method patents, as some thought it might,” said Josh Lerner, a patent expert at the Harvard Business School. “This preserves a fair amount of ambiguity.”

Patently-O:

Although not rejected by the majority opinion, it is clear that the broad “useful, concrete, and tangible result” test is dead. That test is conclusively rejected by what I term the Anti-State-Street Majority — a majority created by the combining the two concurring opinions in Bilski and their five-justice majority. The result is that the scope of patentable subject matter is certainly narrowed from its 1998 high-water-mark.

Glyn Moody:

So, the long-awaited US Supreme Court ruling on Bilski vs. Kappos has appeared – and it’s a mess. Where many hoped fervently for some clarity to be brought to the ill-defined rules for patenting business methods and software in the US, the court instead was timid in the extreme. It confirmed the lower court’s decision that the original Bilski business method was not patentable, but did little to limit business patents in general.

AP:

Scott Bain, lawyer for The Software & Information Industry Association, said the decision “preserves a delicate but important balance.” “It keeps the door closed to patenting mere abstract ideas, which many ‘business method’ patent applications have been,” he said. “But just as importantly, it affirms the continued viability of patenting useful software applications, which will allow software companies to continue in their role as a driver of economic growth.”

Nature:

For those who were looking to the Supreme Court to provide clarity on a contentious issue, however, the court’s limited ruling was a bitter disappointment. “The decision is incredibly unhelpful,” says Steven Bauer, head of litigation at the law firm Proskauer Rose in Boston, Massachusetts. “Nothing in their decision can be used to decide what’s patentable or not.”

The decision had potential ramifications for New Zealand companies who have (or hope to get) business method patents. If such patents were unavailable in the US, the value of having them in NZ and other countries could be somewhat undermined. Unfortunately, though, the recent New Zealand patent law review also didn’t address business method patents in much detail, and it will probably be many years, if ever, before the NZ Appeal Court or Supreme Court hears a similar case. The net result for all is the status quo, and business method patents will remain murky for some time.

It also will not affect the ongoing software patent debate in this country, which is also somewhat up in the air.

Software patent redux?

Posted on by
Reply

Reports are emerging that the proposed ban on software patents may be dropped. There are certainly a small number of organisations and lawyers who were most upset by the proposal – including NZICT, who apparently instigated the lobbying effort to reverse the change – although it appears to have received broad industry support.

It is too early to tell whether the reported comments of Ministry of Economic Development officials represent Government policy. If they do, it would represent a significant change from the Government’s earlier position as stated publicly by senior Ministers and MPs following the Select Committee report.

It would not be a major surprise, though, for the final bill to be substantially “tweaked”. The proposed exclusion came as a surprise to many, including some who had submitted in favour of it. The fact is there is not a large “anti-software patent vote”, and the Government is not going to upset too many people (relatively) over such an arcane technical issue. For those reasons, the proposal was always susceptible to lobbying.

The suggestion is that the ban might be scaled back to the lesser, “somewhat restricted” position of the European Union – the MED’s view being that if something is patentable in the EU it should be patentable here. There is merit in that suggestion, although in the US and the EU software patents are contentious and somewhat in flux themselves.

Whatever the final outcome is – banned, allowed, or restricted – it is hoped it will at least provide clarity for the market (and not just opporunities for lawyers!). Many of the alleged problems with the current system arise from uncertainty and loopholes. The new law is an opportunity to establish a clear framework for the future. It is also hoped that an explanation for any departure from the Select Committee’s unanimous report (if indeed that occurs) is provided.

Tech law update 9 June 2010

Posted on by
1

Software patents and venture capital

An argument often made in support of software patents is that attracting investment will be harder without them. Clearly this isn’t always the case. US venture capitalist Brad Feld has written an open letter against software patents:

In more recent years, patents on software have been granted – hundreds of thousands of patents. These patents cover essential techniques in computer programming, and their existence is having a chilling effect on the startup companies that I work with… Venture capitalist like me, who work with new innovative start-ups can testify that software patents have a chilling effect on the market.

He joins a number of other venture capitalists who have expressed similar sentiments. Now, this is not an either/or situation. There is no doubt that many investors have been, and will continue to be, attracted by a potentially lucrative software patent. But comments such as Feld’s highlight the potential “chilling effects” of software patents, as seen by some investors, and also (further) dispel the myth that software patents are necessary for investment – as reflected by the fact that a huge amount of IT investment has always occurred in situations without software patents.

See also: Protecting IP in a post-software patent environment

Waiting for Bilski

Feld’s letter also highlights the long-awaited Bilksi decision. The case has attracted attention for the potentially major implications on the US patent system – of relevance to all patent-holders including in New Zealand – as well as the long wait for judgment.

Defamation by hyperlink

A US court ruling that “forwarding a link to defamatory material can be considered defamation” has caused some consternation, showing again that, thanks largely to constitutionally protected free speech, US defamation laws are rather less stringent than in New Zealand. Under New Zealand / English common law, such actions have long been capable of being defamatory. For example, in the old case of Hird v Wood (1894) 38 SJ 234, a Court found that a man sitting in a chair and pointing at another person’s defamatory sign contributed to the defamation. If linking is “innocent”, however, the publisher has a defence.

Protecting IP in a post-software patent environment

Posted on by
Reply

My recent Computerworld article is now online:

The article briefly summarises some of the ways developers can protect valuable intellectual property if, as expected, New Zealand bans software from patentability. I avoided the pros-vs-cons debate, because the decision has been made (after an 8 year long review). For developers operating in New Zealand, software patents will not be an option. Software patents in other countries still are, though.

Meanwhile in a new development, a German appeals court has reversed a lower court and upheld a software patent:

… the highest German appeals court in matters of civil and criminal law overruled the country’s highest patent-specialized court and decided that a client-server software for the automatic generation of structured documents (such as XML or HTML) is an example of a patentable software invention… This decision has the effect that in Germany, a country in which software patents were previously only considered valid under relatively strict criteria, all software ideas are now potentially patentable as long as they are innovative from a purely formal point of view, meaning they’re at least marginally different from how a technical problem was solved before.

If this is a change in position (change being the only constant), does it represent a change in European policy? No – Courts do not (or should not) make policy. They interpret and apply law.  But if Europe does change its position (politically or judicially) on software patents, will New Zealand need to follow suit and reverse its expected software patent ban? Pressure to conform with international norms (if one emerges) and trading partner requirements may force a change down the track, but the New Zealand decision was born of widely supported policy, not judicial opinion (or judicial fiat for that matter).

Another judicial development still pending is the US Supreme Court’s ruling in Bilski, expected to be released in the near future. That decision could impact on the ability to patent business methods, which underlie many software patents (and vice versa).