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Dear Dr. Ecommerce,

Having heard of priceline and sightsound.com who have licensed their business model I would like to ask you what the EU "says" about licensing an internet business model? Is it possible/reasonable/legal? Is this truly an entry barrier or does this model work only in the USA?

It would be great if you could give me your opinion on that subject.

Best regards

Allan

Dear Allan:

I put your question to the helpful legal team at the IPR (intellectual property rights) Helpdesk (legal.team@ipr-helpdesk.org) and their reply follows...

Dr. Ecommerce

"Following the provision of article 52.c of the EPC "schemes, rules and methods for performing mental acts, playing game or doing business, and programs for computers" are not regarded as inventions and so not patentable.

As a consequence of this Article and as far as we understood in your e-mail (using the word "licensing"- a common word used in the patent field), the "Internet business model" as is would not be patentable nor protectable by another IPR [intellectual property rights] tools in Europe.

Nevertheless, if the business model is based on software, this software can be protected by copyright but the method itself will not be.

In consequence, in Europe "business model" can include a copyright (if the business model is based on a software), a trademark (domain name included) or specific know how.

In these conditions, such a contract can exist but the business method as is, object of this "license", would only be protected by the obligations born of the contract, and not by IPR.

We remain at your disposal.

Yours sincerely,

Legal team

Disclaimer

The aim and purpose of the IPR-Helpdesk is to raise awareness of Intellectual Property Rights and not to give legally binding advice. It is intended to provide relevant information, which may be of assistance to anyone with Intellectual Property queries or concerns. The European Commission and its contractor endeavour to deliver a high level service for this purpose. Notwithstanding this, neither the European Commission nor the IPR-Helpdesk contractor guarantees the correctness or completeness of the information given and are neither responsible, nor to be held accountable for, any loss suffered as a result of reliance upon the services of the IPR-Helpdesk. Any information given does not necessarily reflect the official position of the European Commission.. In this regard, it should be noted that the information provided is considered to be of a preliminary nature and users should contact the competent authorities, organisations or private firms for more detailed information or! for advice on any correspondence."