This is part of an email i got from IP Australia, after sending my concerns about microsoft patenting it new XML format for word, and my belief that software is just a maths function/algorithm.
In Australia, to be patentable an invention must be a "manner of
manufacture", novel (new), inventive, and useful. What constitutes a
manner of manufacture has evolved over time to encompass new technologies.
The general rule according to current Australian law is that a manner of
manufacture is an artificially created state of affairs of economic
utility. By themselves, discoveries, scientific principles and
mathematical algorithms are not patentable because they have no practical
use. However, the practical application of a discovery, principle or
algorithm is patentable. This means that computer software is patentable
as long as it is implemented in a practical and economically useful way. A
guide to the patentability of computer-related inventions is available on
the IP Australia website at http://www.ipaustralia.gov.au/pdfs/patents/specifi c/computer.pdf. More detailed information is available in Part 8.2.7 of the Australian
Patent Office Manual of Practice and Procedure - Volume 2, at http://www.ipaustralia.gov.au/pdfs/patents/manual/ Part208.PDF.
Slashdot Mirror
This is part of an email i got from IP Australia, after sending my concerns about microsoft patenting it new XML format for word, and my belief that software is just a maths function/algorithm. In Australia, to be patentable an invention must be a "manner of manufacture", novel (new), inventive, and useful. What constitutes a manner of manufacture has evolved over time to encompass new technologies. The general rule according to current Australian law is that a manner of manufacture is an artificially created state of affairs of economic utility. By themselves, discoveries, scientific principles and mathematical algorithms are not patentable because they have no practical use. However, the practical application of a discovery, principle or algorithm is patentable. This means that computer software is patentable as long as it is implemented in a practical and economically useful way. A guide to the patentability of computer-related inventions is available on the IP Australia website at http://www.ipaustralia.gov.au/pdfs/patents/specifi c/computer.pdf. More detailed information is available in Part 8.2.7 of the Australian
Patent Office Manual of Practice and Procedure - Volume 2, at http://www.ipaustralia.gov.au/pdfs/patents/manual/ Part208.PDF.