Software Algorithm Patents
The cluster debates whether software and algorithms are patentable, given that mathematics is not, with discussions on US patent law distinctions between abstract ideas and practical applications, workarounds, and Supreme Court precedents.
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Mathematics is not patentable, but you can patent the steps a computer takes to compute the results of that particular algorithm.
Funny fact about US software patents:- software can be patented- math cannot be patented- all software is basically math(very simple interpretation, but it scales)
It's the same way in the US, one doesn't patent the mathematics or algorithm, but the application of an algorithm in a particular field. Discussions on patents are usually so low-information that important details like this are elided. However, I can get behind the point that if your worldview is limited to just software, this can be distinction without a difference.
What distinction do you make between software and algorithm patents? And how do you separate algorithms and unpatentable math?
You can't patent math, as per patent law. Software is just abstracted math. Therefore, software should not be patentable.
I thought that algorithms couldn't be patented?
There shouldn't be any patents for algorithms - algorithms are math, and math is not patentable.
Algorithms are patented, not copyrighted.
Patents on math and software? Some people really live in a retarded country ...
Software is just fancy math being executed. Math can't or at least shouldn't be patentable e.g. imagine the absurdity that would ensue if you could patent a number not that that hasn't happened (HD DVD encryption). I'm aware every piece of IP or Copyright can be represented with a really big number (a mp4 file is really just a big number) but it's not the number that's the patentable aspect.