Disagree. The algorithm is only a part of the total picture. Yes they look like algorithms but consider the investment in man-hours, equipment and training to develop software. What is being patented is the result of a significant investment in resources. Patents protect this investment from being exploited by others who did not make a similar investment. What is important is the financial impact on the inventor, not the nature of the invention.
The same applies to all other forms invention. Drugs may be based on plants picked from a rainforest but the pharmaceutical firm had to go through a large investment of resources to turn this into a practical product. Even the lightbulb - a truly revolutionary product - required many hours of investment at Edison's laboratory. So whereas patents protect ideas, the investment in formulating the idea is what is being protected, not the idea itself. -----Original Message----- From: Paolo Alexis Falcone <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: Philippine Linux Users Group Mailing List <plug@lists.q-linux.com> Date: Tue, 15 Mar 2005 12:15:42 +0800 Subject: Re: Re: [plug] Re: Linux trends in the Philippines On Tue, 15 Mar 2005 12:04:04 +0800, Ricky <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Patents are merely an agreement between gov't and private sector wherein you > agree to publish your invention or idea in exchange for an exclusive > franchise for a number of years. You may choose not to copyright your > invention but you will risk someone else stealing the idea and making money > of your ideas and labor. This extends to software as well as any other > process or device. > > You may, of course, choose not to patent your software if you are willing to > take-on the risk of protecting the design yourself (such as locking the > original source code in a safe deposit box at the bank) and reducing your > ability to work on future enhancements (addded security risk) > > So yes, software patents have a place in society for those who want a > reasonable assurance that their ideas and productive labour can be protected > by law. The problem here is that patents on the software side is just equivalent to patenting algorithms, as all software are but mere expressions of the algorithms one would pick up from a mathematics or computer science book written in a programming language. As to whether someone would want to distinguish mathematical from non-mathematical algorithms - the problem is ALL algorithms ARE MATHEMATICAL in nature. Mathematics as we all know is an expression of truth - and truth can't be patented. If this were the case this would open up a can of worms wherein methods for expressing truth can be patented as well (litigation methods come into mind). A precedence of that nature cannot be permitted as it can pervert the very foundation that science and truth stands on. The tough part is always where to draw the line. I would agree on patenting business methodologies and hardware implementations - this fosters innovation, but to patent on the very core science isn't really going to help innovation but rather stifle it. For protection of software - copyright is sufficient. It's up to the copyright holder - with the aid of the law enforcement agencies - to enforce his or her claim to copyright issues pertaining to his or her software creations. Heck - we don't patent art, books or newspaper articles - why should we even bother patenting software which falls under this category? -- Paolo Alexis Falcone [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- Philippine Linux Users' Group (PLUG) Mailing List plug@lists.q-linux.com (#PLUG @ irc.free.net.ph) Official Website: http://plug.linux.org.ph Searchable Archives: http://marc.free.net.ph .. To leave, go to http://lists.q-linux.com/mailman/listinfo/plug .. Are you a Linux newbie? To join the newbie list, go to http://lists.q-linux.com/mailman/listinfo/ph-linux-newbie -- Philippine Linux Users' Group (PLUG) Mailing List plug@lists.q-linux.com (#PLUG @ irc.free.net.ph) Official Website: http://plug.linux.org.ph Searchable Archives: http://marc.free.net.ph . To leave, go to http://lists.q-linux.com/mailman/listinfo/plug . Are you a Linux newbie? To join the newbie list, go to http://lists.q-linux.com/mailman/listinfo/ph-linux-newbie
