問27
頻出度★★★
ビジネスモデル特許として, 特許法に基づく特許権が認められる対象となるものはどれか。
平成26年度 秋期 ITパスポート試験 問27
ストラテジ系法務 › 知的財産権
This question's explanation and your answers so far.
解説
問 27
- ア
正解 The correct answer is ア. A business model patent is a patent that protects a new business mechanism (business process) realized by means of information technology such as computers and networks. What the Patent Act protects is an invention, defined as a highly advanced creation of technical ideas utilizing the laws of nature. A business idea by itself does not become an invention, but once it is concretely realized as an IT system mechanism, it can become the subject of a patent right as a software-related invention. Choice ア, a new IT-based order-taking mechanism that can customize PCs to meet customer requests, is exactly a new order-taking process embodied through information technology, and it is a typical example of what is recognized as a business model patent (Dell's build-to-order system is a well-known case).
Incorrectイ
A design document for a new product created with a computer is merely a produced item (a document), not an invention in the sense of a creation of technical ideas. As a written expression it may be protected under copyright law, but it does not qualify as a business model patent under the Patent Act. Whether or not a PC was used to create it has nothing to do with inventiveness.
Incorrectウ
Simply moving a program that was running on the company's own server to the cloud as-is only changes the operating environment; it does not amount to creating a new technical mechanism. It does not satisfy the patent requirements of novelty and inventive step, and it has no novelty as a business mechanism either, so it cannot be the subject of a patent right.
Incorrectエ
A high-performance computer itself is an invention of an apparatus (hardware), and it may obtain an ordinary patent if the requirements are met, but it is not a business mechanism realized through IT, so it does not qualify as a business model patent. Note that the question asks what can be recognized as a business model patent.
ここがポイント
- Business model patent = not granted to the business method itself, but to a new mechanism that concretely realizes it through information technology (computers and networks). A bare idea, or a mere migration of the operating environment, is outside its scope.
- Organize the categories of intellectual property rights: inventions (creations of technical ideas) fall under the Patent Act, while the expression of documents and programs falls under copyright law. Learn the correspondence between what is protected and which law protects it.
用語