[TylerE]

I don't think it's nitpicky. Often the bulk of the work is implementing a given algorithm efficiently, instead of just writing a formal paper with lots of hand-wavy "a sufficiently smart compiler..."

[nitrogen]

But that's not innovation or an inventive step, that's just hard labor, sweat of the brow.

"Except, of course, patents aren't about the sweat of your brow and how much work you put into something." - http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130415/16444322713/suprem...