Lodging securities at the patent office.
American securities companies are quietly taking advantage of a legal distinction in intellectual property law that, though barring the patenting of securities themselves, allows the computer systems and programs necessary to support them to be protected by patents. The ability to gain indirect con...
| Published in: | Economist Vol. 316; pp. 65 - 66 |
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| Format: | Article |
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Economist Newspaper Limited
August 25 1990
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| Summary: | American securities companies are quietly taking advantage of a legal distinction in intellectual property law that, though barring the patenting of securities themselves, allows the computer systems and programs necessary to support them to be protected by patents. The ability to gain indirect control over a security through computerization makes entire classes of securities potentially patentable, which could lead to a flurry of patent litigation. |
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