Venkatesh Hariharan wrote: > On Fri, Nov 7, 2008 at 5:54 PM, Arun Khan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > >> On Friday 07 Nov 2008, jtd wrote: >> >>> http://www.pli.edu/patentcenter/blog.asp?view=plink&id=368 >>> http://www.pli.edu/patentcenter/blog.asp?view=plink&id=371 >>> >>> Software patents are no more in the USA, even if linked to general >>> purpose hardware. Probably even those linked to special purpose >>> hardware. >>> >> Seen a similar posting on another LUG list. This is good news. >> >> Does it have any bearing on the Indian software patent scene? >> >> IIRC, you had posted a few links way back in July/Aug wherein Indian >> software patents were granted even though there is no software patent >> in India. >> > > > JTD, one clarification. The Bilski ruling pertains to Business Method > Patents and not software patents (don't ask me what the difference is, I am > not a lawyer, nor a judge :-) This ruling merely said that pure business > methods, untethered to hardware cannot be patented.It did not clarify > whether merely adding the business method to a general purpose computer > renders it patentable. For more on this, check out Groklaw: > The ruling is connected with Business Methods Patents. That means it is for any one who is following a specific business process (which has nothing to do with software as such). The most popular example is Amazon's One Click shopping. They claim to be the first company to have put a system where the consumer takes all items in a shopping cart, and with a single click completes the shopping (I think it is because they were storing all credit card and shipping information from previous visits). The court decided that this method of doing business was not patentable. It had nothing to do with the software.
It would probably be like Barista saying they are now offering 2 cokies free with every caffe late and want to patent that offer so no one else can copy it. The court ruling says that this is a business process, even if no one else has done it before, it is not patentable Not directly linked to software as such. However, many software patents have been filed in the past centered around the uniqueness of a business process. So that would probably be invalid if this doctrin is followed. Regards saswata > www.*groklaw*.net/article.php?story=20081030150903555 > > Arun, I think it will have a bearing on the Indian situation because this is > a case that is being watched allover the world. > Shamnad Basheer (www.spicyipindia.blogspot.com) says that as India evolves > its patent guidelines, it must ensure that it doesn't blindly copy the US > and the EU. read his excellent article at: > http://www.livemint.com/2008/11/05233957/A-method-to-the-madness.html?h=B > > Venky > -- http://mm.glug-bom.org/mailman/listinfo/linuxers
