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There are two provisions in the Regulations 〔The Regulations annexed to the PCT provide rules complementing the main articles, notably concerning matters in respect of which the PCT expressly refers to the Regulations or expressly provides that some Rules in the Regulations are or shall be prescribed ().〕 annexed to the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) that relate to the search and examination of patent applications concerning computer programs. These two provisions are present in the PCT, which does not provide for the grant of patents but provides a unified procedure for filing, searching and examining patent applications, called international applications. The question of patentability is touched when conducting the search and the examination, which is an examination of whether the invention appears to be patentable.〔"The objective of the international preliminary examination is to formulate a preliminary and non-binding opinion on the questions whether the claimed invention appears to be novel, to involve an inventive step (to be non-obvious), and to be industrially applicable." 〕 These two provisions are and , and, in conjunction respectively with and , may have a concrete impact on the procedure under the PCT, in the search and examination performed under the PCT.〔"''The international examination now being conducted by CIPO instead of EPO may also have repercussions given the position taken by CIPO regarding the patentability of certain kinds of subject-matter in comparison with EPO and other countries, such as the patentability of higher life forms, software and business methods.''" in Nadine Beauger, David Enciso and Luc Morin, (''Changes to the PCT System since January 1st, 2004'' ), Publications, Robic web site.〕 Indeed, depending on the patent office which is in charge of the search or examination under the PCT, the application filed for an invention relating to a computer program may or may not be searched or examined.〔 In addition, the ISA and IPEA (see background section) that do not search such applications to a certain extent have diverging practices with respect to determinations of exclusions as to computer programs.〔World Intellectual Property Organization, (''PCT International Search and Preliminary Examination Guidelines'' ) (PCT/GL/ISPE/1), Geneva, March 11, 2004, page 65, 9.15 "''Computer Programs, to the Extent That the Authority is not Equipped to Carry Out Search or Preliminary Examination on Such Programs''".〕 In addition to the consequences these legal provisions may have in practice, is also significant from an interpretive perspective to understand the origin of the much debated (see Software patents under the European Patent Convention (EPC) and Article 52 EPC). The computer program exclusion was indeed inserted in the EPC in line with Rule 39.1 PCT, so that Rule 39.1 predates Art. 52(2) and (3) EPC.〔"''It was only the second preliminary draft for a European Patent Convention dating from 1971 which explicitly excluded computer programs from patentability in line with Rule 39(1) PCT''", Gunter Gall in a paper given at the OFDI Seminar on April 17, 1985 in Paris, cited in (''The Economic Impact of Patentability of Computer Programs'' ), Study Contract ETD/99/B5-3000/E/106, report to the European Commission by R Hart, P Holmes, J Reid, 2000.〕 == Background == The Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) is an international patent law treaty, which provides a unified procedure for filing patent applications. A patent application filed under the PCT is called an international application or a PCT application. The filing of an international application results in an international search performed by a patent office, accompanied with a written opinion regarding the patentability of the invention which is the subject of the application. An applicant may also request an international preliminary examination performed by a patent office. The PCT does not provide that the searches and examinations are to be performed by one central patent office, as the WIPO does not perform searches and examinations. In contrast, the European Patent Convention (EPC) places the European Patent Office (EPO) in charge of performing searches and examinations for European patent applications. Under the PCT, the international search and the optional international preliminary examination are conducted by different national or regional patent offices, referred to as the International Searching Authorities (ISA) and the International Preliminary Examining Authority (IPEA) 〔.〕 Applicants, based on nationality and on the Receiving Office where the application was filed, may have an opportunity to have the search performed by one of the ISAs. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Computer programs and the Patent Cooperation Treaty」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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