3. What about IT systems implementing dematerialized services?

Such a system, for example a web server, typically involves a mixture of technical and non-technical features. The non-technical features are, for example, the processes relating to the administrative and commercial aspects of the service, and the software that implements these processes. The technical aspects include all the hardware used, such as computers and communication networks, and any software that produces technical effects.

In such a case, examining patentability involves sorting out the features that contribute to the technical character of the system from those that do not.

Non-technical features which do not contribute to solving a technical problem, such as features implementing the administrative or commercial aspects of the service, are not taken into account when assessing the system's novelty and inventive step. As a result,...