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Don't think you did :) In France, you cannot protect a business concept / process / idea. You can patent code, protect IP, logos, ... but not a concept. I'm no
by lolizbak 16y ago
Don't think you did :)
In France, you cannot protect a business concept / process / idea. You can patent code, protect IP, logos, ... but not a concept. I'm no lawyer, of course, and any lawyer would find counter arguments. But all in all, you cannot.
For instance, this [http://mashable.com/2010/06/17/amazon-patents-social-networking-system/ http://mashable.com/2010/06/17/amazon-patents-social-network...] or maybe that [http://www.zdnet.com/news/facebook-wins-patent-for-location-based-social-networking/472766 http://www.zdnet.com/news/facebook-wins-patent-for-location-...] would not be accepted. You would have to IP the code itself, the methods, the technology. And if someone did the same thing differently, you would not be able to attack or C&D them.
- pbhjpbhj 16y agoThere are software patents in Europe, but it's complicated. I don't know about the French office per se but you can get a patent from the EPO that nominally covers France. (Though you would then end up fighting for it in France unless EPLA has gone through). The EPO's technical board of appeal have passed both business method and software patents, FWIW. See eg http://www.epo.org/news-issues/issues/computers/software.html http://www.epo.org/news-issues/issues/computers/software.htm.... The important distinction used to be in where the so called "technical effect" lay but I know the law has moved on somewhat since I was familiar with it (Macrossan + Aerotel, EPLA?, etc.). Your 2 specific citations look to be sound examples of the sort of thing that is patentable in the US (or was) but not in Europe. However with these things covering the ground necessary to inhibit a competitor can be just a matter of [very clever] drafting.