Patents on Applications and Software Patents

Patents on applications (apps) and software have gathered momentum in the world with the need for and the progress of technology. More apps are released to the market constantly, and their inventors are interested in protecting the apps by registering application patents that enable them to protect their invention from competitors. 

Software patents are a controversial field among professionals and in academia: some believe that it is preferable to protect the intellectual property through copyright law, whereas some claim that it is better to register the app as a software patent if it is eligible under Patent Law.

The trend in this discussion appears to be leaning towards protecting the app by registering a software patent. This trend follows the US Patent Office, where it is easier to receive applications patents and software patents than it is in Israel. With this in mind, the Israeli Patent Office has published guidelines for software that relate to software and apps. The guidelines published by the Israeli Patent Authority follow the worldwide trend and allow protection of inventions with a software and application patent.

The pressure caused by market demands has taken its toll, and the Israeli Patent Office has aligned itself with the American trend. More and more software and application patents can be seen with the advance of technology by the volume of apps and software submitted to the Israeli Patent Office. A draft of guidelines can be seen that the Patent Authority published, and a patent attorney should be consulted as to whether this or any other invention adheres to the conditions for a patent on applications or software: each case needs examined by itself. The Patent Authority will examine the patent application by a patent examiner before the patent is approved to become a registered patent.

Inventors often contact us with an idea and are interested in patenting their idea. We first help them with our technical team who plan the concept and define the invention. This technical definition is then passed to the patent attorney who will examine whether there is reason to submit a patent application. Combining the intelligence of the technical team with the patent attorney can help the inventor define and add details to his invention, while facilitating the patent attorney to write the patent application. This increases the chance of getting a patent to grant a monopoly right for 20 years from the date of filing the patent application.