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Recipient of First Software Patent Defends Them
Arguendo writes "Martin Goetz, who obtained the first software patent in 1968, has penned a thoughtful defense of software patents for Patently-O. Goetz argues that there is no principled difference between software and hardware patents and that truly patentable software innovations require just as much ingenuity and advancement as any other kind of patentable subject matter. The Supreme Court is of course currently considering whether to change the scope of patentable subject matter in the Bilski case, which we've discussed before." Does it weaken Goetz's argument that his description of the software lifecycle harks back to the waterfall days and bears little resemblance to current development practice in open source and/or Internet contexts?
Uh, nope... sorry. Phrasing this as a question doesn't even give the appearance of a NPOV.
You know, there is a difference between trolling and pointing out the flaws in your reasoning. Just saying.
Stop posting grossly incorrect statements about a field you know nothing about. Copyright does not protect against disassembly, or simply feeding various combinations of inputs to figure out the algorithm and clone it without violating copyright. Copyright can also be easily defeated using the clean-room process on the targeted software. There's nothing wrong with the patent system other than a few greedy idiots abusing it by publishing obvious patents, and you /.ers want it abolished for some naive socialist agenda where the inventors simply hand over their hard work for free to companies and general public.