Re:Abstract Ideas Don’t Deserve Patents
by Silhouette on Monday March 31, 2014 @06:51AM
(#7500651)
In Software, patents are silly because everything is derivative, and it's very difficult to separate the obvious from the non-obvious. It's not as if most patents are coming from many years of research: Enough eyeballs often would have arrived at the same conclusion.
To play Devil's advocate for a moment...
Not long ago I was involved with the application process for a patent that was the result of a lot of original research by a small organisation, which was competing head-on with much larger and better funded organisations that hadn't come up with the same invention despite several years of competing in the same industry. One could certainly make a reasonable argument that the "enough eyeballs" theory does not apply in this case.
Do you think the patent in question should be allowed? Does it matter whether the patent in question involved software in any way? If so, does it matter in what way or to what extent? Do the nature of the overall invention or of any part of it that involves software matter in any other way?
To play Devil's advocate for a moment...
Not long ago I was involved with the application process for a patent that was the result of a lot of original research by a small organisation, which was competing head-on with much larger and better funded organisations that hadn't come up with the same invention despite several years of competing in the same industry. One could certainly make a reasonable argument that the "enough eyeballs" theory does not apply in this case.
Do you think the patent in question should be allowed? Does it matter whether the patent in question involved software in any way? If so, does it matter in what way or to what extent? Do the nature of the overall invention or of any part of it that involves software matter in any other way?