The Swiss Patent Act does not contain statutory provisions which specifically apply only to Computer Implemented Inventions, which may include computer programs and hardware com­ponents or only computer programs not as such (“CII”). In fact, there is no mentioning of computers or computer ­programs at all. In particular, neither CII nor computer programs as such are explicitly excluded by statutory pro­visions in Switzerland. Besides the Swiss national patent, patent protection can also be obtained through the European patent in Switzerland. Article 52(2)(c) European Patent Convention (“EPC”) specifically relates to “programs for computers”, which has a narrower meaning than the term “CII” as defined for the purpose of this Study Question.