On Novell and Microsoft

On Novell and Microsoft

Posted Nov 8, 2006 16:32 UTC (Wed) by zlynx (subscriber, #2285)
In reply to: On Novell and Microsoft by madscientist
Parent article: On Novell and Microsoft

Also, and this is an interesting bit of IP law, source code cannot be patented.

It's only the binary + the computer that is patented. Really.

Think about how ludicrous it would be to claim that a book is patented. Or a magazine article. Source code is the same thing, just words people read. Only when a computer performs it does it become something covered under patent law.

Because source code itself is just a (precisely detailed) description of how it works. This is exactly what a patent application is supposed to contain, since patents were originally intended to provide incentives to disclose secret techniques.

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