This actually almost makes me want to cry. Glyn Wintle @ FFII-UK pointed
this out to us:
http://www.regdeveloper.co.uk/2006/03/14/java_bytecode_patent_ruling/
It's basically a patent on RISC virtual machines. Well, it's a patent on
doing CISC -> RISC conversion within a bytecode interpreter/virtual
machine.
As well as being examined by someone who admits "I find the concept
of a ‘virtual’ machine implemented in hardware to be inherently
confusing" (para 5, O/057/06), it also puts into words a fallacy which
is extremely easy to defend: "If hardware object A is patentable, then
software object B solving the same/similar problems is also patentable".
I think it's subtle nonsense.
I think this could be the poster-child patent for why ignoring the
software-ness of an invention is a bad habit.
Cheers,
Alex.
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