The world of patenting is also changing…not only because there are new patents, in new sectors that are appearing, as we have seen for weeks; but also because the world of traditional patents is evolving according to “INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY” magazine.
FROM PATENTS ON MEDICATION TO MEDICATION DEVICE PATENTS
According to “INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY”, the number of patents on devices which administer medication has taken off in the last years. The result is that, in this way, the monopoly extends for years after the drug’s expiration date.
According to “INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY”, the patents on devices that administer medication have tripled since 2000. This contributes to an average of 5 years of monopoly: exclusively in the market of these products.
FROM THE PROHIBITON ON PATENTING SOFTWARE TO THE PATENTS ON ALGORITHMS
Until now, software could not be patented in Europe.
You were able to protect software as Intellectual Property, but not as a patent. Due to the fact that the European (and Spanish) regulation demands that an invention has industrial application, only software that forms a part of a machine (or forms a part of its mechanism) can be patented.
However, in the United States, you could patent software. In this way, Microsoft has made sure that some of their patents were not registered in Europe.
It seems that there are intentions to change the European Regulation.
Also according to “INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY”, the European Patents Office is studying the possibility to change patent legislation… Patent specialists from the United States and China are championing that patents are allowed on software in the E.U. Theoretically, this would have been impossible in Europe, until now.
Currently, the idea of allowing patents on algorithms is being discussed, as a way of entering software into the world of patents.
Santiago Nadal
