[wellylug] NZ Software Patents

[Grant McLean]

On Wed, 2009-06-17 at 14:31 +1200, John Durham wrote:
> I can accept that there can be a software patent.
> Exactly how would that differ from a copyrighted work?
> Is it a kind of software device?

As an example, Microsoft have applied for a patent on the idea of using
XML as a data format for storing word processing documents.

In the (hopefully unlikely) event that this patent is granted then
nobody would be allowed to write word processing software that saved
documents in XML format, without engaging in some patent license
agreement with Microsoft.

It wouldn't matter whether the software author independently thought of
the idea.

It wouldn't matter whether the software author independently implemented
document serialisation to XML without ever having seen Microsoft's
implementation.

It wouldn't even matter if Microsoft never implemented the idea.

If a patent was granted for the idea then the patent holder would have a
monopoly on the idea.

I hope that example clarifies why some people consider patenting of
software to be a 'bad thing'.


Regards
Grant