The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is developing new guidelines that will
govern the examination of patent applications on computer software
inventions, the agency announced.

The guidelines are being developed in response to recent judicial decisions
that suggest a trend toward increasing the eligibility of computer
software-based innovations for protection under U.S. patent laws, while
decreasing the availability of protection for certain aspects of computer
programs under the copyright process, the PTO said. At the same time, the
Office announced that it is reconsidering its position in a number of
pending appeals concerning software-related cases, including In re
Beauregard, which involves a computer program stored on a computer
readable medium such as a floppy disk.

"The PTO must keep its practices consistent with judicial interpretations
of the law. A failure to do so could jeopardize effective intellectual
property protection for one of our nation's most important industries,"
said Nancy Linck, PTO's solicitor.

The computer software industry and its intellectual property is essential
to our nation's economy. In 1992, the United States supplied 74 percent of
the world's packaged software technology at a value of $47.6 billion. More
than 5.5 million workers were employed in software and related industries,
accounting for $325 billion or 5.6 percent of the Gross Domestic Product.

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