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> There is no principled reason to stop at software patents, they are literally theoretically equivalent to any other patent. They're not. Software is already
by unityByFreedom 5y ago
> There is no principled reason to stop at software patents, they are literally theoretically equivalent to any other patent.
They're not. Software is already protected by copyright.
- jandrewrogers 5y agoSoftware is not unique in this regard, all patentable subject matters work the same way. Abstract designs are patentable. A specific reduction to practice of that design is copyrightable. Both are independently licensed in practice regardless of the subject matter. It works this way in chemical engineering, for example, where I have some experience. You license the process and the implementation of the process independently, because they are not the same work; the patent in the former and the copyright in the latter.
- unityByFreedom 5y agoSure, algorithms also receive patents in other fields. The point is that algorithms were not intended to be patented, not that algorithms are unique to software. We say "End Software Patents" because that's an easy way to see how the system has gone haywire.