Renewed Confidence for the Patentability of Software Innovations in Canada

2013-12-09

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RENEWEDCONFIDENCEFORTHEPATENTABILITYOFSOFTWARE
INNOVATIONSINCANADA*
ROBIC,
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L
AWYERS,PATENTANDTRADE-MARKAGENTS
AlittlemorethanayearaftertheAmazon.com[Canada(AttorneyGeneral)v
Amazon.com,Inc,2011FCA328]decisionwasrenderedbytheFederalCourtof
Appeal,theCanadianPatentOfficeissuedtwoPracticeNoticesinordertoassist
examinersintheirassessmentofpatentapplicationsconcerningcomputer-
implementedinventions.
Intheseguidelines,itappearsthatthePatentOfficerecognizedthatitspreviously
adoptedpracticesofdeterminingpatentablesubjectmatteronthebasisofa
“contributoryelement”ofaclaim,orbyrequiringthattheinventionbeofa
“technological”nature,arenotapplicableinCanadianpractice.

Instead,thenewguidelinesfavora”purposive”claimconstruction,bywhichaclaim
asawholemustbeinterpretedwhenassessingpatentablesubjectmatter.This
approachisinaccordancewiththeWhirlpool[WhirlpoolCorpvCamcoInc,2000
SCC67,[2000]2SCR1067]andFreeWorldTrust[FreeWorldTrustvÉlectroSanté
Inc,2000SCC66,[2000]2SCR1024]decisionsrenderedbytheSupremeCourtof
Canada,andwiththemorerecentAmazon.comdecision.However,therearecertain
reservationsastothemannerinwhichthePracticeNoticesrecommendthis
purposiveconstructiontobeapplied.
Particularly,accordingtothenewguidelines,onemustfirstidentifytheproblem
facedbytheinventors,andthesolutiontothisproblem,whichinturndefinesthe
invention.Ifthesolutionconcernstheoperationofacomputerorthecontrolofa
systemorcomponent,oriflogicperformedbyacomputerishighlydetailed,thenthe
inventionisconsideredtosolvea”computerproblem”,andtheexaminershould
categorizetheinventionashavingpatentablesubjectmatter.Iftheseelementsare
notpresent,theexaminermustdeterminewhethertheclaimsdefinea”specific
solution”toacomputerproblem,whichwouldconstitutepatentablesubjectmatter,or
whethertheclaimssimplydefineanideaorconceptforsolvingtheproblem,inwhich
casetheclaimedsubjectmatterwouldnotbeconsideredpatentable.

Sincetheissuanceoftheseguidelines,twocasesrelatingtothequestionof
patentablesubjectmatterhavebeenconsideredbytheCanadianPatentAppeal
Board(PAB).

©CIPS,2013.*FromROBIC,LLP,amultidisciplinaryfirmofLawyers,andPatentandTrade-markAgents.Published
intheFall2013(Vol.17,no.2)Newsletterofthefirm.Publication068.166E.

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Thefirstcase[http://brevets-patents.ic.gc.ca/opic-
cipo/comdec/eng/decision/1334/summary.html]involvedasystemthatmonitorsthe
correctpaymentofvalueaddedtax(VAT)onmailarticles,byscanningthe
informationprintedonthearticleandreportinganyerroneousVATpayments.Upon
interpretingtheclaims,thePABidentifiedvariousoperationsandrelationships
betweenthecomponentsofthesystem,andconcludedthatthesystemitself,aswell
asitsfunctionality,waspartoftheinventiveconcept,andthattheclaimstherefore
coveredpatentablesubjectmatter.
Thesecondcase
[http://brevets-patents.ic.gc.ca/opic-
cipo/comdec/eng/decision/1336/summary.html]concernedasystemforadjusting
futureinsurancepremiumsdependingonthebehavioroftheinsuredperson.The
PABfoundthatsomeoftheessentialfunctionalfeaturesoftheclaims(suchas
“monitoringtheoperationcharacteristics”and”determiningthecostofinsuring”)
comprised”technicalfeaturesandphysicalstepssequencedtoachievethepractical
resultofupdatinganinsurancepremium”,andthereforeconcludedthatthethreshold
forpatentablesubjectmatterhadbeenmet.Theapplicationwasnevertheless
rejectedonthegroundsofobviousness.
AlthoughthePracticeNoticesissuedbytheCanadianPatentOfficedonotfully
reflecttheprinciplessetoutbythecourtintheAmazon.comcase,thelatest
decisionsfromthePABoffersomecomforttoapplicantsseekingpatentprotection
forcomputer-relatedinventionsinCanada.

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