Practically speaking: yes.

The patent-eligibility hurdle is extremely low at the European Patent Office. Anything that uses technical means passes the eligibility hurdle.

This means that:

  • An apparatus claim directed to a physical entity is automatically patent-eligible.
  • A “computer-implemented method” is automatically patent-eligible.

This low hurdle to patent-eligibility was originally introduced in the landmark decision T 0258/03 (Auction method/HITACHI).

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