5 ms·

Mathematics Cannot be Patented. Case Dismissed

125 points by grimey27 14y ago

ferrantim 14y ago
Awesome. Thanks RedHat and Rackspace for standing up to patent trolls and defending the true innovators.
hsmyers 14y ago
It occurs to me that what is needed is a possibly grass roots level approach to the patent problem. If ever there was a good use of the Rico Act this would be the one. And know I'm not a lawyer but how is PT (patent trolling) any different from the mob activities that Rico was designed to help eliminate. This would among other things allow asset forfeiture before the fact---something that would be particularly satisfying in this instance :) Just sayin/daydreamin ...
- misnome 14y ago
  > And know I'm not a lawyer but how is PT (patent trolling) any different from the mob activities that Rico was designed to help eliminate Patent trolling doesn't generally kill people or traffic drugs.
  - freehunter 14y ago
    That's true. Rico has been extended to handle things far outside it's original scope though, so taking the extended definition I could see it work.
  - jfoutz 14y ago
    Diverting resources to fend off million dollar lawsuits certainly could kill people. It's not only interfering with defendants, but the court system must also redirect resources away from other activities to handle these cases. If nothing else, hundreds of thousands of hours of effort go into cases like these. Patent reform wouldn't necessarily save a single life, but it would clearly save hundreds of hours of life for thousands of people. Of course, none of that above relates to RICO
- rayiner 14y ago
  The RICO act pertains to threats of illegal force. Filing a lawsuit to vindicate legal rights is not illegal force, by definition. Filing a totally frivolous lawsuit can get an attorney and his client sanctioned, but while something like this may seem frivolous to you it's not legally frivolous (they have a validly-issued patent that has arguably been infringed).
- DannyBee 14y ago
  Already tried ... http://jolt.law.harvard.edu/digest/patent/manufacturers-attempt-to-invoke-rico-act-fails-against-non-practicing-entity http://jolt.law.harvard.edu/digest/patent/manufacturers-atte...
meanJim 14y ago
How does Uniloc honestly sustain itself as a business?
shared4you 14y ago
Same discussion on another thread (currently on HN frontpage): https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5455869 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5455869
genwin 14y ago
I think what really happened is that the Eastern Texas court district used this case to show legitimacy. They'll still eagerly allow less ridiculous but still ridiculous lawsuits from NPE plaintiffs. I see Eastern Texas a bit like Somalia. I imagine patent trolls cause $millions annually to drop into the area. Patent trolling is effectively an industry there, upon which many jobs and pensions depend.
deleted 14y ago
[deleted]
rogueSkib 14y ago
So you can't patent math ... but certain numbers can still be illegal. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illegal_prime http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illegal_prime
- kyllo 14y ago
  I didn't know about that... that is insane. DRM has gone too far.
PaulAJ 14y ago
Now the lawyers and judges just need to realise that "mathematical" != "numeric" and we're home free.
betterunix 14y ago
Thank God, we can finally implement cryptography without worrying about being sued! Well probably not. Or something. All software is math anyway, but I doubt that courts will care about that detail.
- eof 14y ago
  If all software is math, and math is speech(?), does it make sense to put software under "copyright" instead of patents?
pmikesell 14y ago
As somebody who my name on a bunch of software patents - software should not be patentable either.

125 points by grimey27 14y ago

Awesome. Thanks RedHat and Rackspace for standing up to patent trolls and defending the true innovators.

It occurs to me that what is needed is a possibly grass roots level approach to the patent problem. If ever there was a good use of the Rico Act this would be the one. And know I'm not a lawyer but how is PT (patent trolling) any different from the mob activities that Rico was designed to help eliminate. This would among other things allow asset forfeiture before the fact---something that would be particularly satisfying in this instance :) Just sayin/daydreamin ...

misnome 14y ago
> And know I'm not a lawyer but how is PT (patent trolling) any different from the mob activities that Rico was designed to help eliminate Patent trolling doesn't generally kill people or traffic drugs.
- freehunter 14y ago
  That's true. Rico has been extended to handle things far outside it's original scope though, so taking the extended definition I could see it work.
- jfoutz 14y ago
  Diverting resources to fend off million dollar lawsuits certainly could kill people. It's not only interfering with defendants, but the court system must also redirect resources away from other activities to handle these cases. If nothing else, hundreds of thousands of hours of effort go into cases like these. Patent reform wouldn't necessarily save a single life, but it would clearly save hundreds of hours of life for thousands of people. Of course, none of that above relates to RICO
rayiner 14y ago
The RICO act pertains to threats of illegal force. Filing a lawsuit to vindicate legal rights is not illegal force, by definition. Filing a totally frivolous lawsuit can get an attorney and his client sanctioned, but while something like this may seem frivolous to you it's not legally frivolous (they have a validly-issued patent that has arguably been infringed).
DannyBee 14y ago
Already tried ... http://jolt.law.harvard.edu/digest/patent/manufacturers-attempt-to-invoke-rico-act-fails-against-non-practicing-entity http://jolt.law.harvard.edu/digest/patent/manufacturers-atte...

meanJim 14y ago

How does Uniloc honestly sustain itself as a business?

shared4you 14y ago

Same discussion on another thread (currently on HN frontpage): https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5455869 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5455869

genwin 14y ago

I think what really happened is that the Eastern Texas court district used this case to show legitimacy. They'll still eagerly allow less ridiculous but still ridiculous lawsuits from NPE plaintiffs. I see Eastern Texas a bit like Somalia. I imagine patent trolls cause $millions annually to drop into the area. Patent trolling is effectively an industry there, upon which many jobs and pensions depend.

deleted 14y ago

[deleted]

rogueSkib 14y ago

So you can't patent math ... but certain numbers can still be illegal. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illegal_prime http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illegal_prime

kyllo 14y ago
I didn't know about that... that is insane. DRM has gone too far.

PaulAJ 14y ago

Now the lawyers and judges just need to realise that "mathematical" != "numeric" and we're home free.

betterunix 14y ago

Thank God, we can finally implement cryptography without worrying about being sued! Well probably not. Or something. All software is math anyway, but I doubt that courts will care about that detail.

eof 14y ago
If all software is math, and math is speech(?), does it make sense to put software under "copyright" instead of patents?

pmikesell 14y ago

As somebody who my name on a bunch of software patents - software should not be patentable either.