About 280 external contributions were evaluated to answer this question. The Role of Patents 6.
Patents are a long-established means of encouraging innovation.
A patent confers on its holder a legal monopoly, for a limited period, in commercial exploitation of the patented invention. In return for the monopoly the inventor must disclose his invention so that others may utilise his knowledge. The Government s conclusion is thus to reaffirm the principle that patents are for technological innovations. Software should not be patentable where there is no technological innovation, and technological innovations should not cease to be patentable merely because the innovation lies in software. However, the Government agrees with those respondents who said that at present the law is not clear enough, and that this is damaging.