European rejection of software patents is a victory for open source

European rejection of software patents is a victory for open source

Hmm, I thought the purpose of patents was to encourage people to publish trade secrets to advance the progress of science and get a limited monopoly on it in return. It was never about making money.

So if something is not or would not have been considered a trade secret, there appears to be no benefit to society to grant a patent it. By that reasoning business methods would be out since they're hardly something you can keep secret. Whether source code can be considered a trade secret is another question. As long as the patents don't include actual source I don't think you can grant them patents either...