Update on Patentability of Programs for Computers in Europe

The European Patent Office (EPO) has announced (link) that her president has referred a number of questions (see below) to the Enlarged Board of Appeal (EBoA) in relation to this subject. The purpose of the Enlarged Board of Appeal is to "ensure uniform application of the European Patent Convention (EPC)".

The full document is available there.

Here are the questions:"

1. Can a computer program only be excluded as a computer program as such if it is explicitly claimed as a computer program?
2. (A) Can a claim in the area of computer programs avoid exclusion under art. 52(2)(c) and (3) merely by explicitly mentioning the use of a computer or a computer-readable data storage medium?(B) If question 2(A) is answered in the negative, is a further technical effect necessary to avoid exclusion, said effect going beyond those effects inherent in the use of a computer or data storage medium to respectively execute or store a computer program?
3. (A) Must a claimed feature cause a technical effect on a physical entity in the real world in order to contribute to the technical character of the claim? (B) If Question 3(A) is answered in the positive, is it sufficient that the physical entity be an unspecified computer? (C) If question 3(A) is answered in the negative, can features contribute to the technical character of the claim if the only effects to which they contribute are independent of any particular hardware that may be used?
4. (A) Does the activity of programming a computer necessarily involve technical considerations? (B) If question 4(A) is answered in the positive, do all features resulting from programming this contribute to the technical character of a claim? (C) If question 4(A) is answered in the negative, can features resulting from programming contribute to the technical character of a claim only when they contribute to a further technical effect when the program is executed?"