T 1173/97

rdf:langString T 1173/97

rdf:langString T 1173/97, also known as Computer program product/IBM or simply Computer program product, is a decision of a Technical Board of Appeal of the European Patent Office (EPO), issued on July 1, 1998. It is a landmark decision for interpreting Article 52(2) and (3) of the European Patent Convention (EPC) and whether computer programs are excluded from patentability under the EPC. It mainly held that "a computer program product is not excluded from patentability under Article 52(2) and (3) EPC if, when it is run on a computer, it produces a further technical effect which goes beyond the "normal" physical interactions between program (software) and computer (hardware)". Decision T 1173/97 distinguished computer programs with a technical character from those with a non-technical character, and was thus based on an approach differing from the view taken by a number of previous decisions of the Boards of Appeal that all computer programs were excluded under Art. 52(2)(c) and (3) EPC. T 1173/97, along with T 935/97 (not published in the Official Journal of the EPO), are considered to be "groundbreaking decisions". The Enlarged Board of Appeal has described T 1173/97 as "seminal in its definition of 'further technical effect' and abandonment of the contribution approach to [the exclusion under Article 52(2) and (3) EPC]".