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Member Since: 8/2006Last Seen: 11/07/2009

Closely-watched case may spell trouble for software patents

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Two of the nation's leading civil liberties organizations and a new organization dedicated to the abolition of software patents have all filed amicus briefs in a patent case that could give the courts an opportunity to revisit the issue of software and business method patents. The case involves an application for a patent that would cover "a method for managing the consumption risk costs of a commodity" through a series of financial transactions. Not surprisingly, the Patent Office rejected the application on the grounds that purely abstract ideas are not patentable.

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{"commentId":1671899,"authorDomain":"japark"}

Since ideas began to be patented as opposed to actual physical products, the costs of such patents to society in general has become burdensome. Who in thinking of a solution to a problem is safe from a claim that someone else thought such a thought before and has a right to charge for such thoughts?

Let us hope the courts show some common sense on this issue.

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  • 1 vote
Reply#1 - Wed Apr 9, 2008 10:47 AM EDT
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