Patents actually are not supposed to be available for processes! That was something invented by the courts (in 1998: State Street Bank & Trust Co. v. Signature

Patents actually are not supposed to be available for processes! That was something invented by the courts (in 1998: State Street Bank & Trust Co. v. Signature Financial Group). Congress has passed no legislation regarding process/business method patents and software patents are a further extension of business method patents. The core of the problem is method patents to begin with. I think everyone here pretty much agrees at this point that software patents shouldn't exist but really, why should any process/method patent exist? Most of the arguments against software patents also apply to business method patents. I say do away with both.