Supreme Court Rules Against Patents For Abstract Ideas (AKA most software patents) - Polidicks

[quote=NPR] The U.S. Supreme Court that using a computer to implement an abstract idea does not make that invention eligible for a patent. At issue in the case, : Do software inventions get the same kind of patent protections as other inventions? The justices, in their decision, upheld a lower court ruling that invalidated Alice Corp.'s patents, which were challenged by CLS International. But, as : [b]"[T]he Supreme Court leaves room for software patents, just not those that take an abstract idea and provide for a computer to implement it."[/b] [/quote] [url]http://npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/06/19/323568684/supreme-court-rules-against-patents-for-abstract-ideas[/url]

I don't know how to react to this. Can anyone share their opinion?

[QUOTE=hypern;45156469]I don't know how to react to this. Can anyone share their opinion?[/QUOTE] This is a giant step in the right direction.

This means that copyright trolling just took a massive hit and makes our copyright system more legitimate.

This is going to make a lot of people in high places unhappy, but the impact of this will mainly be felt by the everyday users of software.

You can't patent a number. A computer program is simply a long line of numbers. Therefore you can't patent a program.

[QUOTE=hypern;45156469]I don't know how to react to this. Can anyone share their opinion?[/QUOTE] It means Amazon can't patent the one-click shopping cart button.

[QUOTE=hypern;45156469]I don't know how to react to this. Can anyone share their opinion?[/QUOTE] Legally sound: generall speaking, a patent requires a human invention and a certain crafting or human input of some sort. An idea by itself is not patentable if you just say "Eh, a computer will figure it out eventually".

[QUOTE=hypern;45156469]I don't know how to react to this. Can anyone share their opinion?[/QUOTE] You're happy. This is a good thing.

[QUOTE=download;45156523]You can't patent a number. A computer program is simply a long line of numbers. Therefore you can't patent a program.[/QUOTE] It's not about patenting a program, it's about pantenting the idea for a program. Let's say I get an idea for a program and want to get a patent on it. If I go to the patenting office with just an idea I'll be laughed at, but big corporations seem to get away with it alot.

[QUOTE=download;45156523]You can't patent a number. A computer program is simply a long line of numbers. Therefore you can't patent a program.[/QUOTE] you can't patent an atom a machine is simply a large assortment of atoms therefore you can't patent a machine

[QUOTE=download;45156523]You can't patent a number. A computer program is simply a long line of numbers. Therefore you can't patent a program.[/QUOTE] Your mom's a number

Good, patents shouldn't be for ideas, they should be for methods. People who patent stupid vague shit like "It's a rectangle with rounded corners," are exactly what makes me hate the patent system.

This continues the trend started by Bilski in 2010. And that is a good thing. Most of the major tech companies filed briefs for this case even though they weren't directly involved. Loads more reform is required though.

why can't I give this multiple winner ratings This is amazing. Someone has finally done the right thing in respect to patent trolls. Let's just hope that they don't change their mind later on.

[QUOTE=download;45156523]You can't patent a number. A computer program is simply a long line of numbers. Therefore you can't patent a program.[/QUOTE] You can copyright a story, but not the letters you used to write it.

[QUOTE=hypern;45156469]I don't know how to react to this. Can anyone share their opinion?[/QUOTE] it means you can't copyright anything without a prototype [editline]20th June 2014[/editline] [QUOTE=download;45156523]You can't patent a number. A computer program is simply a long line of numbers. Therefore you can't patent a program.[/QUOTE] l0l programz are numbers!!

no this means you can't copyright some mundain action or task just by saying it uses a computer. IE a patent troll insists they invented video streaming because they patented a method of mailing and tracking videos by using a computer, now they can't patent the concept of video streaming, just their particular version of streaming. this probably just invalidated half of microsoft's software patents though for the android OS that they claim ownership of, half their stuff was mundain stuff like methods for recieving email through a touch interface or method for checking for wireless signal using a GUI

The DMCA has banned several prime numbers to protect copyrights: [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illegal_prime[/url]

It's quite sad to see some people here mixing up 'copyright' and 'patents', which aren't the same thing at all. Copyrights protect the actual work, patents protect the idea. Implementation versus concept.

[QUOTE=Reshy;45156488]This means that copyright trolling just took a massive hit and makes our copyright system more legitimate.[/QUOTE] So, this prevents any more bullshit like the Shopping Cart Scammer and Newegg?

[QUOTE=download;45156523]You can't patent a number. A computer program is simply a long line of numbers. Therefore you can't patent a program.[/QUOTE] A computer program is a long line of 0's and 1's, yes. However, this is only the arbitrary encoding that we humans decided that computers should operate under. You could transform any textual data into any other encoding; doing so does not affect its ability to be patented. Or, in other terms, you could read those 0's and 1's in something like base64, e.g. text & numbers. It wouldn't mean much compared to the English language, but it would no longer be just a number. Does that make it patentable in your mind? Or, in other terms, stop.

[QUOTE=hypern;45156469]I don't know how to react to this. Can anyone share their opinion?[/QUOTE] You can still patent a specific method, but not the end result. aka makes it a lot harder for patent trolls.

snip someone said this already!

[QUOTE=l337k1ll4;45158538]Good, patents shouldn't be for ideas, they should be for methods. People who patent stupid vague shit like "It's a rectangle with rounded corners," are exactly what makes me hate the patent system.[/QUOTE] Except that design patents cover physical products so they have nothing to do with this decision.

Shit, how will we ideas guys stop people from stealing our ideas about making MMOs where you can slow down time or my amazing idea for the next facebook killer?

Now fix the damn trademark system. I find it bullshit that companies like King can trademark words like "Saga" and "Candy".