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International Journal of Law and Information Technology Advance Access originally published online on September 28, 2007
International Journal of Law and Information Technology 2008 16(1):96-124; doi:10.1093/ijlit/eam010
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International Journal of Law and Information Technology Vol. 16 No. 1 © Oxford University Press 2007; all rights reserved

Can We Protect How We Do What We Do? A Consideration of Business Method Patents in Australia and Europe1

Judith McNamara2 and Lucy Cradduck3


  Abstract

In the long history of monopolies, business method patents are a novel and recent edition. In the Digital Age, where time is money and speed is everything, innovative methods for undertaking business are as important to a business as the products or services it provides to its clients. In recent years several reviews, conducted in both Australia and internationally,4 have questioned the appropriateness of patenting business methods. This paper reviews the availability of business method patents in Australia in light of the 2006 decision of the Full Court of the Federal Court in Grant v Commissioner of Patents,5 which confirmed the need in Australia for a ‘useful product’ to issue from the working of a method (business or otherwise) in order for the method to be patentable. This paper will review arguments both criticising and defending business method patents and consider whether business methods warrant special treatment.

Key Words: patent • business method • Australia • Europe • innovation • e-commerce • technology • Grant v Commissioner for Patents


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