I. An invention comprising functional features implemented by
software (computer programs) is not excluded from patentability
under Article 52(2)(c), (3) EPC, if technical considerations
concerning particulars of the solution of the problem the
invention solves are required in order to carry out that same
invention.
Such technical considerations lend a technical nature to the
invention in that they imply a technical problem to be solved by
(implicit) technical features.
An invention of this kind does not pertain to a computer program
as such under Article 52(3).
II. Non-exclusion from patentability cannot be destroyed by an
additional feature which as such would itself be excluded, as in
the present case features referring to management systems and
methods which may fall under the "methods for doing business"
excluded from patentability under Article 52(2)(c), (3) EPC
(following established case law according to which a mix of
features, some of which are excluded under Article 52(2) and (3)
EPC and some of which are not so excluded, may be patentable
(in contrast to recent case law concerning inventions excluded
by Article 52(4) EPC, cf. T 820/92 according to which one
feature excluded under Article 52(4) EPC suffices for the
whole claim to be excluded from patentability)).
