Britain will not follow the US in letting its citizens patent “business
methods”, says the Department of Trade and Industry. A clutch of patents on
business methods have been filed in the US, but many faced fierce opposition for
being too obvious or lacking in novelty. The most notorious patent is from
Amazon.com for buying goods online with “one click” of the mouse. “Our key
principle is that patents should be for technological innovations,” says DTI
minister Patricia Hewitt, who has also called for clarification of Europe-wide
laws on the types of software that can be patented.
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