Marshall Honeyman (Intellectual Property -- Overland Park) has authored "When Not to Patent," an article that appears in the June 2008 issue of the Intellectual Property & Technology Law Journal.

"Two areas where inventors often incorrectly dismiss patentability are business methods and computer-related inventions," he writes.  "Business methods are patentable and subjected to the same legal requirements applied to other methods and processes.  Thus, a particular method you use to run an on-line auction would be patentable from a subject-matter standpoint.  So are computer-related inventions, and even computer programs so long as they manipulate the data in a way that produces a 'tangible result.'  The purely algorithmic aspects of a computer program may not be patentable, but the functions that program accomplishes in relation to some useful task are.  Unfortunately some business owners summarily assume these types of methods can not be patented and thus, they miss out on what might have been a good business opportunity."

To read the entire article, please click here.
 
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