House of Lords and President of EPO decline to review Patentability of Software

In November, the Court of Appeal handed down its judgment in the combined case of Aerotel v. Telco Holdings and Macrossan’s Patent Application. Since then, the House of Lords has rejected an application to appeal the ruling, and the President of the European Patent Office has also declined to refer to the Enlarged Board of Appeal certain questions posed by the Court of Appeal.

Accordingly, for the foreseeable future, the Court of Appeal’s judgment is likely to be the last word on patentability of software in the UK. The EPC 2000 comes into force in December 2007, but for reasons we set out here, it is unlikely to change the situation.

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