CHAPTER 8
BIOTECHNOLOGY, COMPUTER SOFTWARE, AND BUSINESS METHOD PATENTS
Disruptive technology advances periodically change the way we live our lives. Advances in mechanical arts changed the face of American agriculture in the early twentieth century. During World War II, advances in engineering and physical sciences, such as the transistor and synthetic rubber, changed war strategies and results. Toward the end of the twentieth century, genetic engineering and molecular biology emerged as a new field of biotechnology, and computers and software created a whole new field of information technology. This chapter concerns the effect of patents on biotechnology and computer software, two fast growing areas of technology. It also tackles business method patents, another specialized area of patent law that frequently overlaps with software patents. Biotechnology, computer software, and business methods are unsettled areas of patent law because they do not fit easily into the Patent Law's subject matter and they are quickly and constantly changing. The sections below survey the development of patent protection in these fields with the understanding that new laws and court decisions will continue to impact the availability of patent protection for biotechnology, software, and business methods.
Get How to Invent and Protect Your Invention: A Guide to Patents for Scientists and Engineers now with the O’Reilly learning platform.
O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.
