The Patents Act 1977 came into force in June 1978, nearly 30 years ago. It was introduced to conform to the European Patent (Munich) Convention of 1973. As a result of that Act, the UK developed a dual system of patenting; it embraced the European Patent Office (EPO) in Munich, where European patents could be obtained, and left the British Intellectual Property Office (IPO) intact for those who did not wish to go down the European route for reasons of cost or speed.
In theory, the approach to patentability should have been the same in both patent offices. They were applying the same statutory approach to patentability, and to the exclusions to patentability set out in article 52(2) of the European Patent Convention (EPC). However, on the question of the patentability of computer programs there has been significant divergence. It has taken nearly 30 years for the UK courts to reach conformity with the EPO approach and to allow patents to be granted for certain computer programs on media. That we have conformity is due to the crusade of one man, Keith Beresford, the senior partner and owner of Beresford & Co, European patent attorneys.
