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English Court Allows Patents For "Complex" Software

Posted by timothy on from the first-a-trickle dept.

jonbryce writes "The court of appeal in England has ruled that companies should be granted patents for 'complex' software products. In this particular case, Symbian had written something that makes mobile phones run faster. The court case has received very little attention because of the bank crisis, but it can be appealed to the House of Lords and then the European Court of Justice."

3 of 132 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Complex? by spazdor · · Score: 4, Funny

    In legal context, it probably means "Any technology which you can successfully confuse a jury by explaining."

    In other news, the Church-Turing thesis has been declared false by judicial fiat. Any algorithms which are discovered to be functionally identical to any others are to be rounded up and shot in order to protect freedom.

    --
    DRM: Terminator crops for your mind!
  2. Re:UK != England by Harmonious+Botch · · Score: 4, Funny

    The diagram is outdated. I believe the British own Iceland now.

  3. Oh wow. by jd · · Score: 5, Funny

    I took it as meaning "any program that cannot be expressed as an integer, by means of a Turing Machine, but requires an imaginary component".

    --
    It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)