It's more complicated than that. From the European Patent Convention guidelines: https://www.epo.org/en/legal/guidelines-epc/2023/g_ii_3_3.html https://www.epo

It's more complicated than that. From the European Patent Convention guidelines: https://www.epo.org/en/legal/guidelines-epc/2023/g_ii_3_3.html https://www.epo.org/en/legal/guidelines-epc/2023/g_ii_3_3.ht... > The exclusion applies if a claim is directed to a purely abstract mathematical method and the claim does not require any technical means. For instance, a method for performing a Fast Fourier Transform on abstract data which does not specify the use of any technical means is a mathematical method as such. [...] > If a claim is directed either to a method involving the use of technical means (e.g. a computer) or to a device, its subject-matter has a technical character as a whole and is thus not excluded from patentability under Art. 52(2) and (3). [...] > When assessing the contribution made by a mathematical method to the technical character of an invention, it must be taken into account whether the method, in the context of the invention, produces a technical effect serving a technical purpose. > Examples of technical contributions of a mathematical method are: [...] > - encoding data for reliable and/or efficient transmission or storage (and corresponding decoding), e.g. error-correction coding of data for transmission over a noisy channel, compression of audio, image, video or sensor data;