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This just hard to take seriously. What is: > A patent that can be infringed using only computer software and a prior art computer. When is that the case? Whe

This just hard to take seriously. What is: > A patent that can be infringed using only computer software and a prior art computer. When is that the case? When is it not? Are medical devices that run software excluded? Are all kinds (read most) imaginable consumer electronics also excluded (they also have some software)? You are arguing for a policy as if in complete obliviousness that such a policy must be applied in the real world (and said companies will have teams of lawyers to find loopholes, not a random HN poster).

nothrabannosir 11y ago
Maybe this can help you? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_patents_under_the_European_Patent_Convention https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_patents_under_the_Eur... It is difficult, as that article points out. But to suggest the non-patentability of software is "just hard to take seriously" is, well, just hard to take seriously, when the largest economy in the world is doing it.
AnthonyMouse 11y ago
> When is that the case? When is it not? Can you name some specific thing where you think this would be unclear? > Are medical devices that run software excluded? Are all kinds (read most) imaginable consumer electronics also excluded (they also have some software)? Do they consist of only computer software and a prior art computer? It doesn't say the device has to contain no software. If you come up with some new light sensor for a camera which is only useful in combination with a particular algorithm to interpret the output then you would be able to patent the sensor (hardware) but not the algorithm (software). If it's just a new algorithm to interpret data from existing sensors then it's a software patent. I don't see what part of this you find so perplexing. It is a software patent if running software is all that is required to infringe it.

nothrabannosir 11y ago

Maybe this can help you? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_patents_under_the_European_Patent_Convention https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_patents_under_the_Eur... It is difficult, as that article points out. But to suggest the non-patentability of software is "just hard to take seriously" is, well, just hard to take seriously, when the largest economy in the world is doing it.

AnthonyMouse 11y ago

> When is that the case? When is it not? Can you name some specific thing where you think this would be unclear? > Are medical devices that run software excluded? Are all kinds (read most) imaginable consumer electronics also excluded (they also have some software)? Do they consist of only computer software and a prior art computer? It doesn't say the device has to contain no software. If you come up with some new light sensor for a camera which is only useful in combination with a particular algorithm to interpret the output then you would be able to patent the sensor (hardware) but not the algorithm (software). If it's just a new algorithm to interpret data from existing sensors then it's a software patent. I don't see what part of this you find so perplexing. It is a software patent if running software is all that is required to infringe it.