• Survey of Software and Business Method Patents
  
  Examples and analysis of software and business method patents, plus relevant litigation.

  Recent International Developments
  

  Legislation, Studies and Patent Office Policies and from around the world regarding software and business method patents.

  Links to Other Resources

  CPT on Software and Business Method Patents

  Software and Business Method Patents in the News

Links to Other Resources

• United States Patent and Trademark Office.
• The Delphion Intellectual Property Network.
• Nolo's Legal Encyclopedia - Internet Business Method Patents
• Derwent Patent News.
• PatentNews.com.
• The European Software Patent Horror Gallery.
• The Eurolinux Alliance's Campaign for a Software Patent Free Europe. Also see the related Petition.
• The Software Patent Institute Database of Software Technologies.
• Professor James Boyle's Patent Page.
• Slashdot.org's Patents page.
• Spring 1999, Robert P. Merges, As Many as Six Impossible Patents Before Breakfast, Berkeley Technology Law Journal.
• July 23, 1998, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit decision State Street Bank & Trust Co., Inc. v. Signature Financial Group, Inc.
• The League for Programming Freedom's excellent web page on software patents.
• Phil Karn's, The US Patent System Is Out of Control!

CPT on Software and Business Method Patents

• March 21, 2001. Has the U.S. Patent Office Really Reformed?. Cluebot.
• March 16, 2001. Busting Microsoft's Patent on Web-Polls?. Slashdot.

• March 5, 2001. Interview with BountyQuest founder. Business Week Online.
• January 4, 2001. Neil McAllister. Tipping the Playing Field On the Internet, Patents Have the Weight of Gold. San Francisco Chronicle.
• January 2001. Brian Kahin. The Expansion of the Patent System: Politics and Political Economy. First Monday.
• October 6, 2000. Chris Oakes. Patent Battle Takes TV Turn. Wired.
• August 8, 2000. Richard Poynder. Internet sparks patenting controversy. IP Matters.
• August 7, 2000. Sabra Chartrand. E-Mail is Sparking Interest in Inventing Accessory Products. New York Times.
• March 31, 2000, Robert Lemos, Patents, Lawsuits, Plague the Net, ZDNet.
• March 12, 2000, James Gleick, Patently Absurd, first published in the New York Times Magazine.
• February 25, 2000, AP, Amazon patents affilate programs technology. CNET News.
• March 2001. Gregory J. Kirsch. Software Protection: Patents versus Copyrights. Gigalaw.com.
• January 27, 2000, Rob Cebollero, Open Defensive Patents? Slashdot.org.
• December 10, 1999, Kevin G. Rivette and David Kline, Surviving a War With Patents, Upside.com.
• December 10, 1999, David Kline, Net Patent Fights May Surprise, Upside.com.
• October, 1999, William Ramsey, Patenting Business Methods, Business Monthly.
• September 13, 1999, Julia King, Patent Examiners Pending, IDG.net.
• May 1999, John B. Moetteli, Esq., Financial Services Using New Business Methods Enabled by Software are Now Patentable in the U.S. - with Extraterritorial Effects This is the first draft a May 1999 article published in The Journal of World Intellectual Property Law.
• April 23, 1999. Lawrence Lessig. The Problem With Patents. The Standard.
• April, 1999, Michael Pavento, Patent Protection for E-Commerce Business Models, Jones and Askew, LLP.
• March, 1999, Alan Ruderman and Stephen J. Stark, Business and Financial Industry Patents, Miller and Martin, LLP.
• January 12, 1999, Bloomberg News, in NYT, Court Declines to Review Ruling Seen as Software Boon
• August 10, 1998, Peter Lewis, Web Concern Gets Patent for Electronic Business Model, New York Times.
• February 1998, Patents for banks and financiers. From Banking Law, February 1998 Number 105. This is an australian publication. "Patents are relevant not just to high technology companies. Banks and financial institutions, as developers and users of technology, are discovering that patents apply to their businesses too."
• Spring 1997, Elsie C. Turner, Software Patents: Easier to Get but Harder to Keep: A Case Commentary, The Florida Bar Computer Law Committee Online Journal.
• 1995-1996, David McCombs, PATENTS FOR COMPUTERIZED BUSINESS METHODS. 1995-1996, Committee Update No. 1, A Publication of the ABA General Practice Session.
• July 1994, Simson L. Garfinkel, Wired, Patently Absurd. From 2.07.