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Thread: Software patents vs. maths

  1. 03-10-2012, 03:35 PM #1
    Aimless
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    Default Software patents vs. maths

    FIGHT

    http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/n...dont-scale.ars

    Myhrvold is right that patent infringement is rampant among software firms. But in demanding that this infringement stop, Myhrvold isn't just declaring war on what he regards as Silicon Valley's patent-hostile culture. He's declaring war on the laws of mathematics. The legal research required for all software-producing firms to stop infringing patents would cost more than the entire revenue of the software industry. Even if firms were willing to pay the bill, there simply aren't enough patent lawyers to do the work. Firms infringe software patents because they don't have any other choice.
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  2. 03-10-2012, 04:48 PM #2
    Steely Glint
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    The main problem is that for some reason the 'novel' and 'non-obvious' criteria of a patent seem to not be applied in the case of software and people can apparently patent ridiculous bullshit that is the equivalent of a screenwriter trying to patent 'starting the episode in media res and then showing how it happened through flashbacks' or 'having a character flatly stating they will never do something, then cutting to them doing exactly that'. I was going to make a joke about how I was going to patent the for loop or something, but someone's already patented the linked list so now I am assuming that can't be far behind.
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  3. 03-11-2012, 12:39 AM #3
    CitizenCain
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    Quote Originally Posted by Steely Glint View Post
    The main problem is that for some reason the 'novel' and 'non-obvious' criteria of a patent seem to not be applied in the case of software
    Having a bunch of bureaucrats who are financially incentivized to grant patents try to play expert in every field has somehow gone horribly wrong... whodathought?
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