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A patent is required to explain the invention to a level of detail such that those aware of the prior art can implement the same. So the _how_ portion can only
by alok-g 5y ago
A patent is required to explain the invention to a level of detail such that those aware of the prior art can implement the same. So the _how_ portion can only be skipped if prior art already describes that.
So while there may be a difference on software and hardware patents in practice, this is not a valid difference in terms of what the legal provisions are.
- gmueckl 5y agoThis may technically be true, but especially the patents that get exploited by trolls are usually very vague. And the system gives too much incentive to write patents as broadly as possible. To be fair, some of the patents that listed in another comment here as part of the lawsuit are quite precise in their claims. Their claims cover the actual algorithms for integrating another loudspeaker into a secure WLAN and for ensuring exact playback. That's the kind of detail level that I would expect from a patent. As a result, if you solve the same problem using a sufficiently different set of steps, you're fine. There's a difference between the spirit in which a law or regulation is written and how it is applied in practice over time. In case of patents, this gap has become quite large. I think that this is why so many here want see changes.