Write Free Software, Pay $203,000 to Patent Holder (Right to Create)

Posted Apr 21, 2006 17:09 UTC (Fri) by wookey (subscriber, #5501) [Link]

Apparently an equivalent patent is granted in the UK too.

The exact claims of this one do not seem to be avaiable on line but the US one claims:

1. A method of operating a digitally controlled model railroad comprising the steps of:
   1. transmitting a first command from a first program to an interface;
   2. transmitting a second command from a second program to said interface; and
   3. sending third and fourth commands from said interface representative of said first and second commands, respectively, to a digital command station.

So it's basically claiming "an 'interface' for translating the commands of two programs into commands which a 'digital command station' for model train control can understand", which is pretty outrageous.

The UK office will no doubt have allowed it because 'controlling trains' is a technical effect, and thus 'not software'. If I hadn't been following this stuff for two years already I'd be astonished at the idiocy of it all.