Comviva Technologies Limited, a company engaged in the field of mobile and digital solutions, filed Indian Patent Application on 4 January 2016, seeking protection for an invention titled "Methods and Devices for Authent

Under the Patents Act, 1970, computer software per se is excluded from patentability under Section 3(k), which bars "a mathematical or business method or a computer programme per se or algorithms." However, this exclusion is not absolute. While assessing the patentability of a computer-related invention, the Controller of Patents must examine whether the invention results in a "technical effect" or "technical advancement." The examination is based on the substance of the invention and not merely the form of the claims. This position has been clearly affirmed by the Hon'ble Delhi High Court in Ferid Allani v. Union of India (2019) , wherein the Court held that if a computer-related invention demonstrates a technical contribution, it should not be rejected solely on the ground that it involves a computer program. The Court emphasized that technological developments cannot be ignored and inventions showing technical effect or technical advancement are patentable even if they are implemented through software. The TRIPS Agreement does not expressly provide the exclusion of computer programs in general or business methods in general from patentability. On the other hand, neither the term "invention" nor the term "technology" is defined under the TRIPS Agreement. In effect, in certain countries, patents have been granted to inventions concerning financial services, electronic sales and advertising methods and business methods, including business methods performed on the Internet. In the United States of America, a business method for managing an investment portfolio was found patentable subject matter in State Street Bank & Trust v. Signature Financial Group 149 F. 3d 1368 (Fed. Cir. 1998) . Further, patents are also granted to the inventions such as a system called "virtual sales personnel" and a method of gripping a golf putter. In Europe, in the SOHEI case 1769/92, OJ 1995, 525 , the Boards of Appeal of the European Patent Office (EPO) decided that a computer system involving a number of independent management tasks, including financial and inventory management and a system operation method, was patentable subject matter. In those countries where a patentable invention should have a technical character, since those inventions are often executed by a computer system, drawing a line between inventions that belong to a field of technology and non-inventions is not an easy task. In some countries, claims defining a computer program itself or a computer program embodied on a machine-readable medium (such as diskettes and CD-ROMs) are accepted. This is due to the fact that software products are often marketed in the form of computer readable media or directly over the Internet, separately from the computer hardware. Further, the Computer Related Inventions (CRI) Guidelines issued by the Indian Patent Office provide illustrative examples of technical effect or technical advancement, such as: Improved speed and efficiency Reduced memory usage Enhanced security Improved hardware performance Better resource management Thus, during examination, the Controller is required to determine whether the claimed invention goes beyond a computer programme per se and makes a technical contribution to the art. If such technical effect or advancement is established, the invention may be considered patentable notwithstanding Section 3(k) of the Patents Act, 1970. Therefore, while assessing the patentability of computer software per se, the Controller must evaluate whether the invention results in a technical effect or technical advancement, in light of Section 3(k), CRI Guidelines, and judicial precedents such as Ferid Allani v. Union of India .