UK PTO workshop divides lawyers and engineers over patents

The extent of the division between attorneys and software engineers over software patents was crystallised at a series of workshops run by the UK Patent Office. Delegates comprised a mix of patent attorneys and software engineers and were tasked with testing a number of patent applications against different definitions of the 'technical contribution' criteria. It is this test that determines the approval of software patents in current law and within the formative CII directive on the issue at the EU. ...more

And also today (21-May-2001), for the record...

Here, in brief, are some of the day's other stories. NetBursted Xeons Intel has introduced its latest Xeon processor, which uses its NetBurst architecture. The server processor is actually based on the Pentium 4 and the fastest flavour runs at 1. ...more

Microsoft promises new tools for souping up Office applications

Ahead of the 21 October launch of its Office System, Microsoft has announced 'Visual Studio Tools for the Microsoft Office System'. The tools are for developers looking to soup up, for example, Word- or Excel-based applications. While in the old days it was just macros and VBA, Visual C# . ...more

Putting the parent in the chat-room

MSN Messenger 5 - Instant Messaging worth paying for? Along with its beefed up, hyped up and paid-for MSN 8 service, Microsoft will also launch a new version of MSN Messenger: MSN Messenger 5. What's new is that many of the best features of the service will only be available to paying subscribers of MSN 8. A free standalone client will be released, as well as a Windows Messenger that offers a few features exclusive to XP users. ...more

Brighter outlook for Motorola

Motorola has reported a profit for the final quarter of 2002, reversing a hefty loss for the same period last year. The company, which along with IBM supplies Apple with Power PC processors, recorded net earnings of $174, compared with a loss of $1.2bn 12 months ago. ...more