Re:Why Kevin Mitnick Is Still Breaking into Computers
by digi_owl on Thursday March 26, 2015 @10:15PM
(#9274396)
Can't comment for anyone else, but for me at least the iffiness is not the concept but the execution.
Current patent durations may be fine for its original purpose, mechanical and chemical processes, as there is likely to have been significant expense involved.
But software is a massive gray area, even if one ignore the whole problem of it being pretty much lawyers into place (code as a form of applied math etc). 20 years is a damn long time in the computing world.
Never mind the whole issue of software being the only area where you can both patent the idea and copyright the specific implementation.
Heck, i think Bill Gates pretty much admitted that it would be virtually impossible to start Microsoft today because of the change in patent law.
Never mind patenting in medicine, where often the production process is downright cheap but the medicine is expensive because of patent licensing. Resulting in various nations pretty much giving pharmacorps the middle finger and allowing local companies to violate the patent to solve immediate national health issues.
Current patent durations may be fine for its original purpose, mechanical and chemical processes, as there is likely to have been significant expense involved.
But software is a massive gray area, even if one ignore the whole problem of it being pretty much lawyers into place (code as a form of applied math etc). 20 years is a damn long time in the computing world.
Never mind the whole issue of software being the only area where you can both patent the idea and copyright the specific implementation.
Heck, i think Bill Gates pretty much admitted that it would be virtually impossible to start Microsoft today because of the change in patent law.
Never mind patenting in medicine, where often the production process is downright cheap but the medicine is expensive because of patent licensing. Resulting in various nations pretty much giving pharmacorps the middle finger and allowing local companies to violate the patent to solve immediate national health issues.