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What about this is unique to software patents? I don't understand the "destroy software patents" crusade. "Destroy all patents" makes sense, and "improve all p

• fauigerzigerk 15y ago
  My main point is not limited to software patents, it's just more striking in this area because the drawbacks of patents are so clearly demonstrated every day. And contrary to other disciplines, copyright covers a lot of ground when it comes to software. But to understand what might make software special you have to look no further than the things that are currently not patentable and never have been, like mathematical approaches and business processes. So, for instance, if you invent some data mining approach based on graph theory and you write your formulas on a piece of paper or into your matlab or R worksheet you cannot patent it. If you express the same ideas in a couple of C functions you can patent it. Another example. Say you are the first to have the idea of selling coke and sandwiches at gas stations. You cannot patent it. But if you are the first to have the idea of selling avatars from within some computer game, you can patent it. Why is that? The differentiation between patentable and non patentable types of approaches and ideas is not something that was invented by software patent crusaders. It's right there in the law already.