With regards to TRIPS, I don't think anyone allows patents of Maths.
Well, TRIPS only sets a minimum of what has to be patentable. Countries can allow patents on math or software if they like. In the US, a CAFC judge recently ruled that software is math, and math is patentable if "as a practical matter, the use of a computer is required". http://www.cafc.uscourts.gov/images/stories/opinions-orders/09-1358.pdf
And Europe clearly excludes "Software as such", and this was tested in their parliament.
The law (EPC art 52) excludes "software as such", but the European Patent Office grants software patents anyway, and the courts sometimes uphold them. So in a theoretical sense (just reading the law), there are no valid software patents in Europe. But if you ask a software developer who's been threatened with EPO-granted patents, or who's been found guilty of patent infringement by a judge, they'll tell you that software patents are quite real in Europe :-( The Symbian and Halliburton rulings in the UK are two examples: http://en.swpat.org/wiki/The_Halliburton_rulings_by_UK_High_Court_-_2006-201... http://en.swpat.org/wiki/Symbian_v._Comptroller_General_%282008,_UK%29 There's also an example in Germany, and one I've yet to confirm in the Netherlands. http://en.swpat.org/wiki/Software_patents_exist_in_Europe,_kinda There's also a page there about free software exceptions: http://en.swpat.org/wiki/Free_software_exception (en.swpat.org is the publicly-editable wiki hosted by ESP. You're all invited to add to and develop it.) -- +32 485 118 029 (<-NEW), http://ciaran.compsoc.com Please help build the software patents wiki: http://en.swpat.org http://www.EndSoftwarePatents.org Donate: http://endsoftwarepatents.org/donate List: http://campaigns.fsf.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/esp-action-alert