Computer Software Patent Law To Protect

As computer software industry develops rapidly, the proportion it takes in the development of national economy keeps increasing. Software whose importance is attracting more and more attention and citizens' lives. How to provide a more reasonable legal protection system has inevitably become a problem confronting law sector and Industry sector. Now, patent protection has began to play an ever increasingly important role in the protection of software related inventions, cause patents can protect utilitarian aspects of software whereas copyright can not But how much scope for the use of patent law to protect software-related inventions, and what requirements should be met for the computer programs to be patentable subject-matter under patent law?To answer above questions, this paper will study on the patentability of computer software comparatively and deeply, focusing on the development of requirements for software patent in developed countries, such as U.S.A, European and Japan, so as to improve the examination guidelines related software patent, and facilitate the development of software industry in China.This note consists of five parts as follows:Part one: first is a brief introduction of computer software, explanation of why computer software needs intellectual property protection. Point out the characters of computer software.Part two: This part discussed three major kinds of legal protection mode of software. They are the copyright law protection, the patent law protection and the trade secret law protection. This part has compared the strength and weakness of various forms of protection for computer software. On the basis of the above review, we can assert that patent law provides the most effective and strong protection for the technical character of computer software.Part three: Undertake a comparative study on the examination of patent application for inventions related computer software by reviewing on the statutory laws, examination guidelines and case decisions for patentable subject matter in USA, Europe and Japan. By analysis of various examinations for computer software patent in USA, Europe and Japan, we can conclude the software may be...