商业方法可专利性述评

Comments on Patentability of Methods for Doing Business

2002年底、2003年初中国国家知识产权局先后授权了两件美国花旗银行商业方法专利,引起了媒体和知识产权业界的重视和较大的社会反响。本文介绍了商业方法可专利性的评判原则,并通过实际申请案例展示了商业方法可专利性的评判方法。

In the late 2002 and early 2003,the State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) granted patents to the two methods for doing business of the First National City Bank of New York, the United States of America (the Citybank for short),and the grant drew great attention from the mass media,the IP community,and the society at large.This article will be pre- senting an overview of the principles for the evaluation of patentability of methods for doing business,and illustrating the way for evaluating the patentability of methods for doing business with actual cases of applications.