[8526] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Re: Multimedia has been patented
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Peter Deutsch)
Sun Nov 21 17:46:43 1993
From: Peter Deutsch <peterd@bunyip.com>
Date: Sun, 21 Nov 1993 17:37:38 -0500
In-Reply-To: Glenn S. Tenney's message as of Nov 21, 14:22
To: tenney@netcom.com (Glenn S. Tenney), com-priv@psi.com
[ You wrote: ]
> At 4:43 PM 11/21/93 -0500, Peter Deutsch wrote:
> >I would argue that in fact much of what passes for
> >invention in software draws far more heavily on
> >repackaging of prior art and established practice than
> >potential patent holders would care to admit. In fact, the
> >art of programming appears to be an excellent example of
> >the quote about "standing on the shoulders of others" to
> >further your own work.
>
> What you are describing is clearly innovation rather than invention.
Thanks, as usual someone has found a way to express a
thought in one sentence that takes me three or four to
express!
So, in one paragraph what I am claiming is that much of
what passes for invention in software development is
really simply innovation and thus not really deserving of
patent protection. If this was understood, and it was
generally believed that the PTO possessed the skills
needed to sort claims out based upon this distinction, a
lot more people would be comfortable with the concept of
software patents (not everyone, but a lot more than are
now). Until then, the developer community will remain
uncomfortable.
- peterd
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