Re: [opensuse] Re: [SLE] Novell-Microsoft: What They Aren't Telling You

On Saturday 11 November 2006 23:21, M Harris wrote:
On Sunday 05 November 2006 05:24, you wrote:
Re: software patentability:
I ask this in all seriousness; I don't have a particular pre-conceived
bias one way or the other:

Why would assembling a collections of "objects" (as in C-objects)
together to perform some function be any different that assembling a
collection of resistors, capacitors and active devices together to form
a "circuit" (which is certainly patentable)?

     hi Tony,

     Great question. I asked it also, as I was thinking through this...

     The answer is simple, but in order to answer it you need to ask
another question.... how is "software" like or unlike a collection of
resistors and capacitors assembled on a circuit board... compare and
contrast.

     The circuit board containing resistors and capacitors is a physical
(meta-physical) construction comprised of real objects manufactured from
"stuff" that we generally call matter (we can touch it). Software is text.

     The point is that software (as a medium) is only text, like a play, a
novel, a short story, a poem... or a recipe in a cookbook. It is a set of
symbols which can be read (by another person, or by a machine)....  it is
text, plain and simple.

     Text is protected by copyright (or copyleft... as I see it) and is not
patentable. Software is text, and as such should be protected by copyright
(or copyleft) and should not be patentable any more than a recipe in a
cookbook (designed to be read and "executed" by a chef in a kitchen). The
recipe in the cookbook, and any other software objects, are both text....
protected by copyright perhaps (or copyleft) but not patentable.

/snip/

You should be happy that software is patented, rather than copyrighted.
Patents expire within a long but reasonable(?) time; copyrights don't expire
for almost 200 years. No-one living will ever see a copyright expire, even
if it was granted to Mickey Mouse movies of the 1920's.

Of course, I'm not happy that software is patented, I think that's ridiculous,
but think of the alternative!

--doug
---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxx
For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@xxxxxxxxxxxx

Relevant Pages

  • Re: [OT] Free software versus software idea patents
    ...    Software is another sort of animal entirely. ... to all other "software idea patents," and for similar mathematical ... If you are a lawyer wondering why some argue that software is mathematics, ... Groklaw's An Explanation of Computation Theory for Lawyers, ...
    (comp.lang.python)
  • Re: [opensuse] Re: [SLE] Novell-Microsoft: What They Arent Telling You
    ... Programmers are applied mathematicians. ... protections for programs. ... But if you think software patents are bad, ...
    (SuSE)
  • Re: H2 burner
    ... demonstrated over 60% efficiency. ...   As I said, I have a hybrid system that is ... Patents, prototypes, photos by filling out a contact card, ... Reviewers are trained engineers who are very sharp. ...
    (sci.energy.hydrogen)
  • Re: Cheney, are Jews making US Jobless ???
    ... Since 1950 until 2000 were the inventions and the Patents from NASA, ... Romano De Simone  , having dozens utilizations, ... Israel  ) ...
    (rec.arts.sf.fandom)
  • Re: Blizzard sued for patent infringement (LONG POST)
    ... Patents run for a fixed period of years then expire. ... of the movie "It's A Wonderful Life" shown hundreds of times in December ... Ted Turner never owned the rights to it. ...
    (alt.games.warcraft)