Software plays an important role in making products usable. We couldn’t imagine a laptop without software that run it making the things it does possible with the laptop hardware. Software has penetrated into several industries making significant contribution in how the products are designed and to make them more usable. This thesis focuses on semiconductor industry and analyzes the role played by software to enhance their products and differentiate them from competition. In this context, the thesis looks at acquisition of software companies by chip companies and analyzes them to determine the benefits and how it changed the market space. In a semiconductor company, the focus is predominantly on hardware. Although software is equally crucial to the success of the product, not much focus is placed on it in terms of innovation and building sustained software IP portfolio. One of the questions that this thesis tries to answer is how to build a robust software IP portfolio in a chip company. Case studies of different products were conducted to analyze their IP building strategies in general and focusing specifically on software patenting in terms number of patents filed and procedures adopted to encourage it. It looks closely at the best and not-so-best practices adopted by the teams and analyzing them to determine why certain initiatives succeeded while others failed. A crucial aspect of building software IP pipeline is to involve junior level engineers in this process. The thesis looks at some of the strategies companies could use to bring the culture of patents to the lowest levels of engineers. Typically the senior engineers are well tuned in to the process and regularly file patents while the junior engineers don’t. This is crucial to the company since today’s junior engineer is tomorrow’s senior engineer leading technology initiatives. The thesis concludes by putting forward recommendations to encourage software patenting. / text

In March 1991 the World Intellectual Property Organization held an international symposium attended primarily by lawyers, to discuss the questions that artificial intelligence poses for intellectual property law (i.e., copyright and patents). This is an edited version of a talk presented there, which argues that AI poses few problems in the near term and that almost all the truly challenging issues arise instead from software in general. The talk was an attempt to bridge the gap between the legal community and the software community, to explain why existing concepts and categories in intellectual property law present such difficult problems for software, and why software as a technology breaks several important assumptions underlying intellectual property law.

LL. M. (Intellectual Property Law) / Throughout the history of mankind and the countless ages in which law has found a voice, there has existed a need to achieve and maintain a balance between conflicting interests. In this everchanging and dynamic society the need for a balance is paramount. Although it may seem that the various conflicting interests are predominately of a private nature, many of these conflicting interests have consequences that have a salient impact on social welfare. One such branch of the law in which conflicting interests between various interested parties surface is patent law, and the controversial issue of software programs. The current socio-economic environment has experienced exponential technological growth, with substantial advancements not only in the field of hardware but also in the field of software. However, this same rapid growth is not always true when it comes to the law which, in certain fields may be remarked to unfortunately be lagging behind in the degree of protection it affords. The consequences of this may be dire in the case of technological developments, for it is the protection afforded that is in part responsible for the advancements in technology. This once again draws into account the fine line in the balance of rights between various conflicting interests, namely the protection of an individual’s creativity versus that of social welfare. In certain cases, regardless of how innovative or unique certain discoveries or developments may be, if they are important to the social welfare, then an individual’s rights or need for protection must give way. Having said this, one needs to evaluate where software programs fall within this delicate balance of rights. The legal position with regard to software programs in South African intellectual property law is found within the legislation. Namely, the protection afforded to software programs in the Copyright Act,1 and the exclusion of protection in the Patents Act.2 In light of this, why software programs are expressly excluded from protection in the Patents Act will be analysed. It will also be determined if, and to what extent, the Patents Act can be said to afford protection to software

Orientador: Maria Beatriz Machado Bonacelli / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Geociencias / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-10T15:56:24Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Carneiro_AnaMaria_D.pdf: 1760189 bytes, checksum: 48964d51864d1880e7f47503e3cbf760 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007 / Resumo: A tese trata da apropriação dos resultados das inovações geradas na indústria de software e da proteção dos ativos tecnológicos por parte de suas empresas, no contexto do aumento da importância do conhecimento na geração de riqueza, à medida que a economia tem se desmaterializado, e do aumento da importância da propriedade intelectual na apropriação dos retornos do esforço inovativo. O software representa um dos ícones da Economia do Conhecimento, tanto devido à sua participação direta na composição da riqueza nas nações como por sua pervasividade e transversalidade que dinamiza as outras indústrias Para isso, analisa-se a co-evolução da indústria de software e do processo de regulação da proteção da propriedade intelectual em torno de três regimes tecnológicos relevantes na indústria de software, cada qual formado por um peso diferente entre hardware, software e serviços: grandes computadores (mainframes), computador pessoal e serviços na web. Para uma indústria tão heterogênea, certamente não é possível apenas uma solução única em termos de instrumentos para proteção dos direitos de propriedade intelectual, sejam formais ou informais. Dada a evolução histórica da indústria de software, analisam-se como as empresas procuraram proteger seus heterogêneos ativos intangíveis, sendo que para cada modelo de negócio há uma necessidade diferente de proteção, considerando ainda que os mecanismos de proteção variam também de acordo com o país. Na década de 90, assistiu-se a dois movimentos aparentemente contraditórios. Por um lado, ao fortalecimento dos direitos de propriedade intelectual, como o grande crescimento de patentes de software, um tipo de instrumento que até então não era muito usual entre as empresas de software. Por outro lado, no mesmo período, o software livre e de código aberto (SL/CA), que é tanto fruto quanto impulsionador da migração da indústria de software para os modelos de negócio baseados em serviços, ganhou corpo e introduziu formas alternativas de desenvolvimento de software e de disponibilização e proteção dos conhecimentos gerados, baseadas em licenças. Desta forma são analisadas as formas de apropriação utilizadas pelas empresas contextualizadas nos respectivos modelos de negócio que vêm sendo estabelecidos da indústria / Abstract: The thesis concerns the appropriation of the results of innovations generated in software industry and the protection of the technological assets by the firms, in the context of the raising importance of knowledge to value generation with the economy dematerialization and also the raising importance of intellectual property in the appropriation of the innovation efforts returns. Software represents one of the icons of Knowledge Economy, by its direct contribution in nation¿s value generation, but also by its pervasiveness and its transversely character that helps other industries dynamics. It analyze the coevolution of software industry and of the process of regulation of intellectual property protection focusing three relevant technological regimes of this industry, each one with a different balance between hardware, software and services: big computers (mainframes), personal computers and web services. For such a heterogeneous industry, it is certainly not possible just one solution concerning tools for the protection of intellectual property rights, being them formal or informal. Given the historical evolution of software industry, it analysis how firms tried to protect their intangible assets, considering that each business model has its own needs in terms of protection and that the protection mechanisms are diverse in different countries. At the 90th decade, two apparently contradictory movements appeared. By one side, the strengthening of intellectual property rights, with the raising of software patents, not so usual since then at software firms. In the other hand, at the same period, the free and open code software, that is a result and a stimulus of software industry migration to service based business models, reinforced itself and introduced alternatives ways of software development and of making available and protected the generated knowledge, based on licenses. In this way, the appropriation forms used by firms contextualized in respective business models that have been established in industry are analyzed. / Doutorado / Doutor em Política Científica e Tecnológica

The primary objective of the thesis will be to focus on patent protection of software under the European Patent Convention, by analyzing the different approaches that the European Patent Office has taken into consideration since the mid-1980s. These approaches are derived from the different decisions that emanate from the Technical Boards of Appeal of the European Patent Office. The thesis will examine the most relevant decisions illustrating the juridical tendencies and basis that have been utilized to decide over the patentability of computer programs. The analysis will conclude with the latest approach taken by the Technical Board of the European Patent Office. The study will examine the patentability requirements of inventions in general established within the European Patent Convention. Sources that will be utilized to carry out this research will include case law, legislation, specialized legal commentary; journals and books. The present study sustains that computer programs may be patented as long as they comply with all the general requirements of an invention prescribed under the European Patent Convention together with the condition established by case law called the technical character requirement. Nevertheless, due to the fact that the Technical Boards of Appeal are not bound by previous case law, the current position could keep evolving as it relies on the stance of  the European Patent Office on patentability of computer programs which is seems to be influenced by the changes in the technological world