Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.

Re: Spawn of the Devil?

Author:William Crim
Posted:7/25/2000; 11:44:44 AM
Topic:Spawn of the Devil?
Msg #:19045 (In response to 19012)
Prev/Next:19044 / 19046

Patents in general aren't bad. Patents on business practices and software are. Software patents allow you to patent things you never could before, just because they are software.

Lets take a checkbook.

I can patent the checkbook cover. I can patent the check-paper. I can patent the magnetic ink used on the paper. But I can't patent the idea of a check.

In software, I can patent the entire concept of a computer based checkbook. I don't have to patent an implimentation, I can patent the idea of a checkbook, which I could not do before, just because I implimented it in software.

This is wrong.

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