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Software Patent
of the year 2006

March– Patent 1

EP375330 – Centralised database for post applications

EU-patent on software/business method
Application by PITNEY Bowes (USA) at the European Patent Office (EPO)
Granted on 24 May 1995, protest was entered but rejected
Patent specification provided by FFII/Gauss
Patent specification provided by EPO/espacenet

Advice on the reading of patent specifications:

The decisive element are the claims, as they specify which actions are forbidden within the framework of the patent.
Violating one single claim is sufficient to be considered a patent violation. Generally, claim number 1 is the decisive main claim which covers all other claims relating to special cases.
The description is intended to help the reader interpret the claim. At the same time, it is supposed to document and disclose the details of the invention. This disclosure is the original purpose of the entire patent system.
In practice, a patent specification contains no detailed information on how the patented procedure could be implemented (even if the patent owner allowed the implementation). In particular, a software patent contains no program code (reference implementation), but merely describes the idea of a software.

Patented idea: Centralised database

Main claim: A centralised database administrates the data of subordinated databases, accessible through a network, and can sort these data according to categories.

Further claims:

The case is emphasised in which the network connection is protected from unauthorised access.
Every single component (server, slient) is patented separately.
The business method to use the named database system is patented. This is repeatedly specified for the case, in which the business involves the dispatch of letters.

Description: As motivation the patent specification includes the cost reduction of the dispatch of letters achieved through the sender's participation in the sorting process, in the course of which virtually all the machines used in the dispatching process are mentioned individually. However, the mentioned machines have nothing to do with the software and the business method, both of which are not limited to the post business, but are of totally general nature.

Everyday parallel: A supermarket chain is stocktaking. All the branches send their stock-taking (subordinated database) to the head office. There the local stocks are consolidated (central database) and also sorted according to suppliers (categories).

Examples for patent infringements: