5 ms·

If software is considered speech then we can get rid of software patents.

• harryh 11y ago
  No. Books are definitely speech and we have copyright laws.
  • rail2rail 11y ago
    copyrights != patents
    • TillE 11y ago
      It's not difficult to see how software can be simultaneously a patentable process and free expression. Videogames are the most obvious example.
      • Gorbzel 11y ago
        And most purely-software developments in video gaming shouldn't be patentable.
      • AnthonyMouse 11y ago
        An important distinction between patents and copyright is that independent invention is not a defense to patent infringement and the patent covers the concept rather than the specific implementation. Which means that unlike copyright, software patents create concepts that you aren't allowed to express, even if they're your own ideas.
• deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
• studentrob 11y ago
  Ug this is off topic
• jessegreathouse 11y ago
  Software doesn't get patented. Patents apply to "ways of doing things". Incidentally software is used to describe a "way of doing things" but it's the concept that gets patented, not the software. Also, your assertion that the software is the free speech is a false-presupposition. The private key is data, and data is speech. It's no different than a book or a newspaper, except it's written in a way that only 1 person (device) can understand it.