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(Highly Divided) Federal Circuit Opinion Finds Many Software Patents Ineligible

Posted by Soulskill on from the system-and-method-for-bits-and-stuff dept.

ais523 writes "The Federal Circuit has divided CLS Bank vs. Alice Corp., a case about various sorts of patents, including software patents. Although the judges disagreed, to a lesser or greater extent, on the individual parts of the ruling, more than half decided that the patents in question — algorithms for hedging risk — were ineligible patent matter, and that merely adding an 'on a computer'-like clause to an abstract algorithm does not make it patentable. Further coverage is available at Groklaw, or you can read the opinion itself (PDF)."

5 of 116 comments (clear)

  1. about by NEDHead · · Score: 4, Insightful

    time

  2. borked pdf link, or just for me? by girlinatrainingbra · · Score: 4, Insightful
    The pdf link gets me to an error message page: Error

    Error

    This page can't be displayed. Contact support for additional information. The incident ID is: 0.

    on the court's web page. Is it just for me, or a bad link?

    According to Groklaw, however, one of the judges said

    ``Let's be clear: if all of these claims, including the system claims, are not patent-eligible, this case is the death of hundreds of thousands of patents, including all business method, financial system, and software patents as well as many computer implemented and telecommunications patents,'' Moore wrote.

    Let's hope that Judge Moore is right, and these patents and deemed ineligible for patenting at all.

    1. Re:borked pdf link, or just for me? by JakeBurn · · Score: 5, Insightful

      And I completely agree. Software should be treated like a recipes. People who put the time in to figure out how something is cooked can easily make a generic version. People still pay for the good versions of things because everything else that goes into the product is better.

  3. Re:Good! by leonardluen · · Score: 5, Insightful

    at least patents, unlike copyright, still have reasonable expiration dates.

  4. Pretty Vital Issue! by MarkvW · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Robotic manufacture is going to go crazy in the next decade and it's going to change everything.

    Software is needed to make that shit work. If software patents can make (profitable) roadblocks to 3d implementation, then robotic manufacture is going to go someplace besides the USA.

    This is so obvious that even the Supreme Court is going to see it. (Congress might need some 'lobbying' to understand it, though.)