| This is your regular reminder about Preaching To The Choir. Telling each other about the evils of software patents might be satisfying, but it has zero effect. The proof is that they're still there after almost 30 years, and programmers have hated them from the start. Here's the problem: (1) lawyers, as we know, don't want to solve problems -- they want to make them part of their practice. (2) your corporate managers have already spent millions on patents, and they listen to their lawyers. (3) your professional associations (ACM & IEEE, looking at you here) are not on your side either. I don't know enough about their reasons to speculate here but you're free to. Do a search on "abolish software patents." There are organizations devoted to doing that. Join one. The EFF has a lengthy article [1] and note the date: 2012. When I was at Google an engineer / lawyer (yes, there are a few of those) wrote up a one-page bill for Congress, declaring all software patents obvious. I picture you all asking a Congressional candidate at a town hall "Do you support abolishing software patents?" and watching him or her panic and stall, and direct their staff to look into it. Finally, I got the "file wrapper" for this patent. It was amazingly quick: less than two years. The PTO rejected it and then they amended it, and that's pretty much all there was. These things are incredibly boring to read and I can't summarize the details in any quick way. [1] https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/06/want-abolish-software-... |