Comparative Law Review

Comparative Law Review

Protection of business methods in comparative law (A study on the approach of American, Indian, Japanese, Imamia jurisprudence and Iranian legal systems and the TRIPS agreement)

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors
Seyyed Mohammad Hadi Ghabooli Dorafshan 1
Mostafa Bakhtiarvand 2
Akram Aghamohammadi 3
1 Assistant Professor, Ferdowsi University of Mashad, Mashad, Iran
2 Assistant Professor, University of Qom, Qom, Iran
3 M.A. Graduate, Intellectual Property Law, University of Qom, Qom, Iran
10.22059/jcl.2016.60697
Abstract
Business methods are among the most important assets of companies, whose protection is different in different legal systems. Although trade secrets are the most traditional form to protect business methods, the companies’ willingness to patent inventions in this field has so increased that recognizing them as inventions has become a controversial issue. This paper, with descriptive-analytic method, has studied the possibility of business methods protection in deferent legal systems and concluded that countries such as the United States, India and Japan, have, despite their previous practice, showed much tendency towards protection of business methods as inventions; the position of TRIPS in granting patent rights to inventions including inventive steps and industrial applicability is also favorable to business methods protection. In Iran, business methods are been excluded from the scope of protection. Therefore, considering the deep foundations of Imamia jurisprudence in protecting people's material and immaterial rights, it is necessary for the legislator to add an article to protect business methods or remove its exclusion, at least, with regard to applicable electronic commerce methods. Finally, if business methods are not protectable in the form of trade secrets or patents, recourse can be made to other forms such as utility models.
Keywords
business methods
Patent
trade secrets
utility models
Subjects

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Comparative Law Review
Volume 7, Issue 2
Autumn & Winter
October 2016
Pages 647-668