Software Patent Index
Need more Guidance?
See our new Guidance on Section 101
Dealing with Section 101
BitLaw and the rest of the Interent contains a great deal of information on the patenting of computer software. This topical index provides one-stop shopping for learning about software patents. A discussion on basic patent law written by Dan Tysver is found in the Patent Section of BitLaw.
BitLaw's Introduction to Software Patents
- Bitlaw's Section 101 Index--An index of information dealing with the issue of whether software is eligible for patent protection under Section 101 of the patent act
- Bitlaw's Section 101 Guidance--Guidance provided by the attorneys of Forsgren Fisher McCalmont DeMarea Tysver on how to deal with Section 101 during the patent application process.
- Why patents are being used to protection computer software
- Are Software and Business Methods Still Patentable after the Bilski Decision?
- The historical reluctance to grant patents on computer code
- An explanation on why software is currently considered to be patentable
- Bad software patents
Software Patent Source Materials on BitLaw
- Documents from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
- Current Software Patent Guidelines (from the MPEP)
- Current Guidelines (Separate PDF)
- Flowchart for Subject Matter Eligibility
- U.S. Patent Act (updated November 2005),
- U.S. Regulations relating to patents (updated November 2005), and
Software Resources Articles on the Internet
- WIPO-Patenting Software
- This article was written by the World Intellectual Property Organization, and contains many important tips for software developers that are thinking about applying for software patent protection (including answers to questions such as as "do you really need a patent?").
- Patently Absurd
- An article on patenting software by Simson L. Garfinkel published in Wired Magazine (2.07).
- Software patents – Obstacles to software development
- The transcript of a talk by Richard Stallman presented in 2002 at the University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory.
- End Software Patents
- As one might guess, this website is devoted to end software patents. Many good Resources and interesting discussions on software patents can be found on the site.