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Red Hat Files Amicus Brief In Bilski Patent Case

I Don't Believe in Imaginary Property writes "Red Hat has filed a friend of the court brief with the Supreme Court in regards to the In Re Bilski case, which has become incredibly important due to the possibility that it could redefine the scope of patentable subject matter in a way that affects software patents. In the brief, Red Hat argues that software should not be considered patentable subject matter because it causes economic harm due to patents being granted with vague subject matter, which makes it impossible to say that a given piece of software doesn't arguably infringe upon someone's patent. They also point out Knuth's famous quote that you can't differentiate between 'numeric' and 'non-numeric' algorithms, because numbers are no different from other kinds of precise information." Read below for the submitter's thoughts on an earlier amicus brief filed in the Bilski case by Professor Lee Hollaar.
It's a pity, though, that they don't seem to directly address Professor Lee Hollaar's brief that gave a hand-waving excuse about the Curry-Howard correspondence being merely 'cosmetic' (whatever that means), even though you can turn ZFC into a program (ZFC being the axiomatic framework in which almost all math is done) and you can turn programs into math in order to verify them. Of course, this is the guy who called the successor function 'essentially nonsense', presumably because he doesn't think that mathematicians can differentiate between assignment and equality the way computer scientists can.

2 of 219 comments (clear)

  1. Re:I think by geekoid · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    What do you do at home?
    If it's game, don't bother. Yes I can jump through hoops and get some games to work, but like you I prefer my home system do what I want with little fuss. Ironically, that means Windows.

    As much as people hate to hear it, the Windows OS is pretty good these days.
    Of course, MS as a company sucks ass. If they would stop trying to be the abby sitters for the media companies and pull out DRM, I suspect it would be an awesome OS.

    --
    The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
  2. Re:I think by DAldredge · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Funny the DRM in Windows 7 / Vista doesn't appear to be stopping me from doing anything. What has it stopped you from doing?