The opposite of insanity is...
Oct 7, 2016 16:12:44 GMT
Authored by drakaan on Oct 7, 2016 16:12:44 GMT
A particular (previously?) pro-software-patent judge appears to have come around.
In his decision, he says (among other things):
...and more importantly:
In his decision, he says (among other things):
Software development has flourished despite—not because of—the availability of expansive patent protection. See Brief of Amicus Curiae Elec. Frontier Found. in Support of Respondents, Alice, 134 S. Ct. 2347 (No. 13- 298), 2014 WL 828047, at *6–7 (“EFF Brief”) (“The software market began its rapid increase in the early 1980s . . . more than a decade before the Federal Circuit concocted widespread software patents in 1994. . . . Obviously, no patents were needed for software to become a $60 billion/year industry by 1994.”); Mark A. Lemley, Software Patents and the Return of Functional Claiming, 2013 Wis. L. Rev. 905, 935 (2013) (“Software patents . . . have created a large number of problems for the industry, particularly for the most innovative and productive companies. . . . [T]he existence of a vibrant open source community suggests that innovation can flourish in software absent patent protection.” (footnote omitted)); Wendy Seltzer, Software Patents and/or Software Development, 78 Brook. L. Rev. 929, 930 (2013) (“Seltzer”) (“Present knowledge and experience now offer sufficient evidence that patents disserve software innovation.”); Arti K. Rai, John R. Allison, & Bhaven N. Sampat, University Software Ownership and Litigation: A First Examination, 87 N.C. L. Rev. 1519, 1555–56 (2009) (“While most small biotechnology firms that receive venture financing have patents, the available empirical evidence indicates that most software start-ups that receive venture financing, particularly in the first round, do not have patents.”).
...and more importantly:
Software is a form of language—in essence, a set of instructions.... It is inherently abstract because it is merely “an idea without physical embodiment,”... Given that an “idea” is not patentable... and a generic computer is “beside the point” in the eligibility analysis ... all software implemented on a standard computer should be deemed categorically outside the bounds of section 101.