Red Hat failed to achieve the Supreme Court decision it wanted [LWN.net]

Red Hat failed to achieve the Supreme Court decision it wanted

Posted Sep 29, 2010 20:34 UTC (Wed) by kunitz (subscriber, #3965)
In reply to: Red Hat failed to achieve the Supreme Court decision it wanted by FlorianMueller
Parent article: Red Hat Responds to U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Request for Guidance on Bilski

It appears that the news item on the Red Hat website contains the actual comments submitted to the PTO. If I understand the comments correctly Red Hat maintains that software is a set of algorithms and as such alone not patentable.

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Red Hat failed to achieve the Supreme Court decision it wanted

Posted Sep 30, 2010 3:12 UTC (Thu) by FlorianMueller (guest, #32048) [Link]

It appears that the news item on the Red Hat website contains the actual comments submitted to the PTO.

Those few paragraphs are so unspecific that I assumed they sent something more elaborate to the USPTO, with more specific references and examples. If really all they submitted was just those few paragraphs, then that only adds to the impression of a PR stunt without any legal substance.

If I understand the comments correctly Red Hat maintains that software is a set of algorithms and as such alone not patentable.

No patent attorney in his right mind will file a patent application that looks like a patent on an algorithm alone, even if the ultimate legal effect of the patent being granted will be the monopolization of the algorithm.

The questions that have to be addressed -- and the tests that have to be performed -- under substantive patent law follow a very special logic in order to assess the nature of a claimed invention.