Wednesday whimsies 2

CAT = computer assisted technology,
 and we're here to assist ...

Get involved 1. Our reader Marcin tells us that his ambition is to be a patent attorney and that right now he is trying to get his head round software patenting, seeking to understand the differences between US and Europe in the wake of the US Supreme Court ruling in Alice Corp v CLS Bank International [on which see this guest Katpost from Nick Transier here], He refers to the subject matter exclusion provisions of Article 52 of the European Patent Convention (which include "schemes, rules and methods for performing mental acts, playing games or doing business, and programs for computers") and asks:

"Is it true that in Europe non-technical elements cannot contribute to novelty and inventive step, whereas in the US they can?"

Disallowing a simple "yes" or "no", this Kat invites readers to post their most succinct and helpful responses. Given that this subject involves patents and that readers may wish to comment on each others' comments, he asks anyone who does post an answer but does not want to be identified by name if they would please use a pseudonym for ease of reference. Thanks!

Get involved 2. Another reader, Geoff Quelch, is studying law at the University of Denver, Colorado. He is writing a paper comparing software patent law in terms of US post-Alice [on which see the item above, if you haven't already] and European law and practice. The only works that cover European software patent law that are immediately available to Geoff date from 1995 and 1999 respectively, which is pretty prehistoric as leading edge legal texts go. He therefore asks readers if they can recommend any good textbooks. reference works or other secondary sources, preferably in the English language. This Kat has spent too much time reading primary sources and finds it hard to make objective recommendations, so he hopes that readers will be able to answer Geoff's request.

Get involved 3. Turning now to snowy Northern climes, Anna Klimovich (a student at Stockholm University) comes with a request for help of a fairly specialised nature.  Anna needs as many readers as possible to participate in her online survey on intelligent adaptive user interfaces in patent search and retrieval tools [says Merpel, if you haven't the faintest idea what this is all about, the survey's not for you; feel free to skip to the next item!].  By way of explanation, the survey website reads as follows:

Project:

Evolving user interfaces and information searching

Adaptive user interfaces in patent search and retrieval tools

Researcher: Anna Klimovich

Master Thesis

Department of Computer and Systems Sciences

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This survey aims at gathering the necessary data to evaluate the suitability of intelligent adaptive user interfaces for public patent search and retrieval tools. The survey is independent and is not sponsored by the European Patent Office. Any suggestions presented in this survey originate solely from the researcher and represent neither those of the Stockholm Universiy nor of the European Patent Office. No expectations as to the development of the tools provided by the European Patent Office can be derived from the suggestions or questions in this survey.

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Thank you!

Your participation is greatly appreciated. Your input can contribute greatly to the development of more efficient and usable user interfaces. Especially those user interfaces can improve the interaction with less experienced users or those who have diffibulties to use tradiotional search interfaces.

The project

An intelligent adaptive user interface is an interface that has an ability to provide the right information to the right person in the right format at the right time.  Adaptive interfaces seek to predict what features are desirable and customisable by users.

This study aims at defining users profiles, task profiles and the corresponding preferences for the user interface. Based on those profiles and preferences it is intended to propose adaptation strategies that possibly could lead to an intelligent adaptive interface.

The survey

The questions of the survey are intended to enable the determination of the above profiles and preferences if relevant. It is expected that you will need maximum about 20 minutes to complete the survey.

Privacy

The record of your survey responses does not contain any identifying information about you.

Says the IPKat, please help Anna if you can -- particularly if you are an Espacenet user. It's all for a good cause.  You can access the survey by clicking here. Responses should be made by not later than the middle of April [this causes Merpel no end of puzzlement, since April has an even number of days. When exactly is the middle? Is it a point of time? Indeed, is there even such a thing as a point of time ...?].