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Software is more similar to math algorithms and shouldn't be patentable. Fundamental physical inventions (not algorithms) should be. If you invent a teleporter
by throwawaymsft 13y ago
Software is more similar to math algorithms and shouldn't be patentable. Fundamental physical inventions (not algorithms) should be.
If you invent a teleporter, you should have patent protection. Developing a video game that implements player.teleport() (however cleverly) shouldn't be.
- alok-g 13y agoTo the best of my knowledge, algorithms are not patentable already, though there are workarounds that often get exploited. Software is rarely similar to math algorithms in practice. Just for example, majority of the software developers I have come across have little understanding of mathematics, fundamental computer science, and often also algorithms. They just know how to invoke the latter already built in various libraries to get the problem at hand solved. Finally, "software" by itself is not a subject of a patent, it is a subject of copyright. What is patentable is an "invention" that may be implemented in software or as a process instead of something physical. Example, regarding "player.teleport()", it is already that way.