Business Method Patents in Europe and their Strategic Use - Evidence from Franking Device Manufacturers

Stefan Wagner

Discussion Papers in Business Administration from University of Munich, Munich School of Management

Abstract: There has been a wide-spread misconception based on the imprecise wording of Art. 52 of the European Patent Convention (EPC) that the protection of business methods by patents is prohibited in Europe. This paper investigates the legal framework set by patent laws with respect to the patentability of business methods, contrasting the situation in lege in Europe and the situation in the US. It is shown that in praxi business methods have never been excluded from patentability in Europe. In the empirical part of the paper, 1,901 European patent applications relating to business methods are identified and major patent indicators are computed. Further, a case study from the franking device industry which is characterized by strong competition for intellectual property rights is conducted. It contains evidence for the strategic use of business method patents leading to opposition rates against granted patents of 44%.

Keywords: business method patents; European Patent Office (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: L39 O34 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2006
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eec, nep-ino, nep-ipr and nep-pr~
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
https://epub.ub.uni-muenchen.de/1265/1/Wagner_bmp.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: BUSINESS METHOD PATENTS IN EUROPE AND THEIR STRATEGIC USE—EVIDENCE FROM FRANKING DEVICE MANUFACTURERS (2008)
Working Paper: Business Method Patents in Europe and their Strategic Use – Evidence from Franking Device Manufacturers (2004)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:lmu:msmdpa:1265

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Discussion Papers in Business Administration from University of Munich, Munich School of Management Ludwigstr. 28,80539 Munich, Germany. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Mareike Seifried ( this e-mail address is bad, please contact ).