Business Method And Computer Implemented Inventions

Article 2 (2) of the Japanese patent law defines an invention as "a highly creative work generated from a technological thought, employing natural laws" and has generally been interpreted to preclude patenting of mathematical formulae, drawing methods, teaching methods, methods of playing games, etc. Article 2 does, however, allow for the patenting of business methods and computer software.

Prior to 2001 JPO routinely rejected software patent applications as being drawn to algorithms. The restriction could theoretically be overcome by reciting the software as being embodied in some form of memory or computer readable medium, but such patents were quite difficult to obtain. In 2001 JPO issues examination guidelines that allowed patenting of computer programs without regard to whether the software is recorded in a medium, but the change has made little difference in real-world practice. JPO is still extremely reluctant to grant software patents, and now routinely rejects the Claims as being non-enabled, inadequately supported by the Specification, failing to provide a "technology aspect", or according to any other arguments they can devise. Despite rhetoric to the contrary, they just don't want to grant software patents. From January through May 2005, for example, the JPO issued 131 patents with the term software" in the title or Abstract, while the EPO granted 515, and the USPTO granted 13,809 such patents.

To some extent this may be a good thing. JPO tends to apply a higher standard for non-obviousness that the USPTO, and so far has avoided issuing patents along the lines of the most ridiculous of the U.S. patents. For example, in 2001 several Internet sites reported that JPO denied the Japanese application for Amazon's one-click patent prior art grounds. In the meantime JPO has granted software patents for interesting and useful inventions, and is expected to continue to do so. In 2004, for example, JPO issued Patent No. 3492981 for a "disambiguating system" that predicts Japanese words as users type characters on their cell phones.