Computer-Implemented Inventions

On May 16, 2008, the MIPLC together with the European Patent Office/European Patent Academy, the Association of Intellectual Property Experts VPP and the Japanese Patent Attorneys’ Association JPAA organized a one-day patent conference focused on computer-implemented inventions. The conference was divided into three sessions, each addressing the patentability and the enforcement of computer-implemented inventions under the laws and practice of Europe, Japan and the U.S.A. The panel discussions following each of the three sessions allowed for a spirited discussion and comparison of the diverging approaches.

The distinguished speakers from judiciary, academia and practice included Prof. Dr. Meier-Beck, Judge of the Patent Senate of the German Federal Supreme Court; the Honorable Randall R. Rader, Circuit Judge of the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit; Dr. Jörg Machek, Director at the EPO in charge of search and examination of computer-implemented inventions; Prof. Katsuya Tamai, RCAST Tokio; Prof. Martin J. Adelman, The George Washington University; Christian W. Appelt, German and European Patent Attorney with Boehmert & Boehmert, Munich; Keiko Kawakami, Japanese Patent Attorney with Ikeuchi, Sato and Partners, Osaka; and Yutaka Osawa, Japanese Patent Attorney with Osawa Patent Office, Tokio.

The conference was met with great interest by the IP community and attended by more than 170 persons. After the conference, several participants specifically commended the comparative trilateral approach of the conference and voiced their hope that the MIPLC will organize similar conferences in the future.