Rote Taube
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Rote Taube ("Red Dove") is a landmark decision of the Federal Court of Justice of Germany (Bundesgerichtshof) (X ZB 15/67, 27 Mar. 1969), regarding the definition of a technical teaching ("a teaching to methodically utilize controllable natural forces to achieve a causal, perceivable result") in patent law.[1][2]
German courts continued to refer to the Rote Taube decision in a wide variety of subsequent rulings, invoking it in very different ways.[3] Although the decision does not mention the patentability of software at all, it has "developed into one of the most important rulings for the patenting of software".[4]
In the literature on material law, it has been noted that the court's reasoning "subjected animal breeding methods entirely to the logic of a natural-scientific, materialistic worldview, so that living beings were obviously simply regarded as the sum of their 'chemical components', that is, as a 'composition of matter'". According to the same analysis, various courts have since distanced themselves from this argumentation - some more clearly than others - while others continue to follow it.[5]
