Supreme Court to examine 'obviousness' of patents

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Re: Yes, it should...

Ask any pharm. company that spends billions on developing a formula for a new drug.

That's not a case for business process and software patents, which should be eliminated. All the patent disputes we hear about - IBM accusing Amazon of infringing one of its patents because Amazon's customers order from a catalog, for example, or NPT suing Blackberry - would not arise if the pharma model was followed in the software world.

A pharma company that develops a formula that cures the common cold has its formula protected. Let's say it uses animal proteins derived from pig saliva glands.

Another drug company is working on a cold cure that uses plant proteins derived from seaweed. It's still free to patent and introduce its different formula to cure the common cold.

They each have their formulations protected. That's legitimate. Getting protection for curing the cold? That's not legitimate.

That's how business process/software patents work. They would protect the act of curing the cold, as IBM's patent assertions attest. IBM owns "selling products out of a catalog," or at least it claims to do.

Cisco claims to own "bundling phone, data and video services" and has a patent to back it up - not a certain technology to do it, but doing it, period. That's no different than owning the concept of bundling a burger, fries and a shake because you've called it an "invention."

Business process and software patents should be eliminated. They tend overwhelmingly to simply tax the economy and not introduce news inventions.

Posted by: none none   Posted on: 11/27/06 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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