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European Patent Office

Patents for system modelling and optimisation algorithms?

Imagine you have created a computer-aided method of designing an airfoil. Is such a computer model patentable? What about a wing developed using the model? What about software in general? When does it make sense to apply for a patent?

The European Patent Office grants patents for inventions in a technological area only where a technical problem is solved by technical means. This also holds true for innovations where software is involved.

Patents and open software are not mutually exclusive and can exist side by side and innovators in the computer field are free to use the best solution for them, depending on the situation.

For more information on patents and software, see www.epo.org/software