INDIA
August 01, 2017
The Indian Patent Office issued, with immediate effect, another revised Guidelines on Examination of Computer Related Invention in order to provide a much needed clarity in the examination of these inventions. Amongst the major changes, we can highlight those related to (i) the test used for examining CRIs and (ii) the basis required in the specification to support CRIs.
In relation to the (i) issue, the guidelines set out a more flexible, three-step test requiring examiners to properly construe the claim and identify the actual contribution, if the contribution lies only in mathematical method, business method or algorithm, deny the claim and, if the contribution lies in the field of computer program, check whether it is claimed in conjunction with a novel hardware and proceed to other steps to determine patentability with respect to the invention. In relation to the (ii), the guidelines indicate that the description must define the interaction between hardware features and the computer program and, similarly, any functional claim language must be described with reference to structure.