OIN Expands the Linux System Definition

Posted Apr 15, 2015 22:32 UTC (Wed) by scientes (guest, #83068)
Parent article: OIN Expands the Linux System Definition

I thought SCOTUS threw out software patents? http://lwn.net/Articles/602889/

And Sony and Phillips reserve the right to harass people who implement DVD and Blu-Ray http://www.openinventionnetwork.com/joining-oin/linux-sys...

Didn't Alice abolish software patents??

Posted Apr 16, 2015 14:45 UTC (Thu) by coriordan (guest, #7544) [Link]

> I thought SCOTUS threw out software patents?

They did something good in that direction, but they didn't give a bright line test to say what is valid and what is invalid. As is normal, it will be years before we know the extent of their ruling. The mountains of software patents that existed before that ruling still exist, so they still appear as "valid" patents if someone checks their status.

People have to challenge software patents in the lower courts, and if they get thrown out (good news: this is currently happening a lot) then we have to see what the (pro-patent) CAFC does on appeal, and then we might end up with a result which doesn't seem to respect the Supreme Court's ruling and so we might need the Supreme Court to rule on the CAFC's ruling.

Change takes years, but for the moment things are going in the right direction.