JULY 2012

VOL. 2 ISSUE 14

ORIGIIN NEWSLETTER
A monthly Newsletter on issues relating to Intellectual Property Rights

Software: Patent or Copyright?

Santhoshi Basuthkar (santhoshi@origiinipa.com) India has become the favorite destination for many multinational companies to establish and outsource software development work. Large investments are happening in the IT sector with the expectation of bringing new technology and new product

development to the market. For anything to be new there has to be an element of innovation involved in it and thus securing innovation is of prime concern today!

Inside this Newsletter

A Patent is a valuable tool in protecting an innovation. Once the given technology has been patented, the owner of the patent can enjoy monopoly over the technology for 20 years. The term Patent that was once more significant to the scientific industry is slowly gaining prominence in the software industry as well. One of the earliest filed patents on software was filed as early on 1962, on a British patent application entitled "A Computer Arranged for the Automatic Solution of Linear Programming Problems". The invention was

Software Patent or Copyright? Interesting Patent of the month Patent news Origiin Launches IPBytes!

concerned with efficient memory management for the simplex algorithm, and may be implemented by purely software means. . The patent was granted on August 17, 1966 and seems to be one of the first software patents.

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The patentability of software-related inventions is currently one of the most heated areas of debate. Software has become patentable in recent years in most jurisdictions.

Editors
Santhoshi Basuthkar Anita Kalia

Software related inventions are patentable in US since 1982. The only criterion is that the invention has to produce useful, concrete and tangible result. In Europe and Japan, the invention is patentable if it is sufficiently technical in nature. In India, According to Section 3 (k) of Indian Patent Act, a mathematical or business method and a computer program per se or algorithms are not patentable. The term per se means a computer program in isolation or standalone software. For a computer program to be patentable in India,

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it has to have a technical industrial applicability or should be combined with hardware. The clause means that the invention should contain something more than a computer program to be eligible for a patent protection. An invention in which the technological advance is nothing more than a computer program is not patentable if the computer is suitable for the particular purpose without special adoption or modification of hardware or organization. However, an invention that relates to a particular manner of organizing the Central Processing Unit or other peripheral units,

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regardless of whether the invention is implemented by means of a program or special hardware facilities is patentable.

Traditionally, softwares are protected by Copyrights. A computer program is considered a set of statements or instructions that are used in a computer to bring about a certain result. Thus a computer program is considered as a literary work and protected under Copyright Act. A Copyright protects the structure and design of the program, thereby preventing others from copying the code. Whereas
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software patents give

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their owners the right to prevent others from using a claimed invention, even if it was independently developed and there was no copying involved. Patents also protect the underlying methodology embodied in creation of software, whereas Copyright prevents only direct copying of software.

inventions that we use in day-to-day life such as conversion of a TIFF into PDF, provision to have multiple network providers on the same cell phone, remote monitoring of data usage etc

Given that Copyright protection is available for a computer program, there is a debate in the community on whether these programs also require a Patent protection. Some of the critiques argue that software industry being highly dynamic in nature, monopoly of 20 years over such technology is ludicrous. This kind of monopoly also works against the open source system of computer programs. However the benefits awarded by Patent such that: it promotes research and development, provides public disclosure of the invention and it helps in boosting the economy of the small companies who venture into developing new software are some of the strong positives of having a Patent over a software.

Interesting Patent of the Month!

A device for the treatment of Hiccups

United States Patent Application number: 10/684,114 Inventor: Phillip Charles Ehlinger JR Publication number: US 2005/0080458 A1

Abstract: A device for the treatment of hiccups, and more specifically, to a method and apparatus for the

The awareness on the importance of software patents in India is on the rise. Big Indian software Giants who were filing Patents only in the USA are now filing even in the Indian Patent office. The nature of the software Patents not only involve new operating systems and software also include

treatment of hiccups involving galvanic stimulation of the Superficial Phrenetic and Vagus nerves using an electric current.

Copyright 2012, Origiin IP Solutions LLP

JULY 2012

VOL. 2 ISSUE 14

Patent News
Twitter Bird goes on a diet!
Twitter has recently updated its Trademark, Blue bird logo by giving a new look! The bird is crafted purely from three sets of overlapping circles - similar to how networks, interests, and ideas connect and intersect with peers and friends. The main differences in Twitter's logo appear to be the following: the new bird appears to be leaner, the tuft on the top of the birds head is no longer there, the new bird is looking up rather than straight ahead, the wing of the bird is facing upward rather than downward, and the color blue is a darker shade. Just as many consumers can immediately recognize popular logos such as the Nike swoosh, the golden arches of McDonald's, and the Microsoft Windows logo, Twitter is assured that its blue bird logo will be among this list as one of the most recognizable icons!

GDrive needs a Pit stop!

In April, Google released its free storage component referred to as Google Drive or "GDrive", to the public. GDrive offers Google account holders access to store up to 5GB on its 'cloud'. On storing information on the cloud, a Google user is able to access their stored items through multiple machines or other services provided online. However, in a lawsuit filed this week SuperSpeed, a small company based out of Massachusetts, claims that the newly released Google Drive infringes on its existing patent. SuperSpeed claims, "In this configuration, multiple computers can all communicate with each other and can all access data from the same data storage device or devices, such as hard disks. For example, a bank might have hundreds of computers as part of its network, some for employees handling customer service calls, others for employees running credit checks for loan applications, and so forth. Each of these computers needs access to the bank's customer's credit card records, which are stored on a series of hard disks." SuperSpeed is seeking an injunction against Google for the infringing services as well as royalties. It is to be noted that SuperSpeed has already won a patent infringement battle against Oracle. We will have to wait and watch it gets a similar with Google!

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Origiin IP Solutions LLP,

Bangalore launches Indias first IP sensitization

program IP Bytes! It is specially designed for software/IT industry, in order to help them understand critical IP issues such as securing and handling confidential information, data security, know-how and trade-secrets of the company.

Expert Speaks!
IPR as a topic is not given its due importance and is assessed only in terms of number of patent applications filed. Data security and Confidentiality are one of the prime concerns in outsourcing model. Every industry today is facing a tough challenge to protect confidential information, knowhow and trade secret - Sabapathy, COO, Cymfony "Sensitization for IP would fetch more confidence from the clients, ensure disclosure of ideas from employees, make them understand their liabilities and create a conducive environment for innovation."
-Dr S Rama Murthy, Professor & Head, Knowledge Management, Centre for Emerging

Technologies, Jain University, Bangalore and Scientific adviser Indian Patent Office

Who shall attend?

Technical team, Delivery managers, Account managers responsible for customer delivery, COE personnel responsible for propriety IP, legal team, tools group and risk officers.

Our Speakers

How to register?
To register please send email to ipbytes@origiin.com OR Call us on 9880213204 or 9845693459

Copyright 2012, Origiin IP Solutions LLP