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: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
