Patenting a Matlab script

Hi, does anyone have experience about patenting a Matlab script ?

My code is not a function itself ( like ceil, stifness or magic() tu make some examples ) but i use some of the Matlab function to make something.

I appreciate if you write your knowledge about.

Thank you

[Walter Roberson]

It appears that you might be in Europe. The requirements to patent software in Europe are a bit complicated. If I read correctly, the technical innovation might be patentable but not the steps themselves. That looks to me to be nearly the opposite of the United States approach. In the United States, "algorithms" as such cannot be patented but concrete steps can be patented.

I would suggest that you should be examining resources specific to the jurisdiction you hope to patent your software in.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_patents_under_the_European_Patent_Convention

[Jan]

@Davide Di Luzio: What is the purpose of the patent? Should it limit the usage of your code by others? Would a written Non-Disclosure-Agreemen solve your needs? Do you need a kind of copy-protection? Should the patent be active in Europe or worldwide?

I'm surprised that your question concerns a script. Scripts are short hacks, which can have severe side-effects, so they are a bad programming pattern and avoided strictly for productive work.

[Davide Di Luzio]

Hi. Thanks for your reply.

The situation is very simple.

i'll make an (absurd) example : suppose that you write some code ( as a script but developable even as an application ) ,that calculates the design of a beam that can resist some various load. You are the first that thinks to use some algorithm in Matlab to front this problem. Now you want the title of merit about the fact that you are the first to make this and that your program is very helpful about every-day work about the argument ( beam design ) .

The patent be active worldwide

[Jan]

@Davide Di Luzio: So the algorithm is existing already and you are the first one, who has implemented it in Matlab?

I assume, that you will not get a patent on this. If there is no MP3 encoder in Matlab and I'm the first person, who implement this in a new programming language, this is not enough "intellectual creation" for a patent.

Anyway, this question has a very weak connection to Matlab only. Please search for a forum about laws or ask a lawyer who is speziallized in this topic.

[Davide Di Luzio]

nope.

I implemented it using Matlab, but on my search, no one makes it in any other programming language.

For sure my question is not on MATLAB only but i'm searching on experience of other people that have already front this problem.

Answer 1

[Steven Lord]

You're unlikely to get a definitive answer to a legal question, especially a very broad one like this one, here on MATLAB Answers. I know I wouldn't want to even appear to give such an answer, since I wouldn't want to open up myself or MathWorks to a lawsuit if I gave you incorrect advice.

You really should contact a lawyer in the country in which you're hoping to patent your invention. If you did this work as part of academic research or for your job, your educational institution or company may have in-house counsel or a contract with an external law firm that you can contact.