Re: Software Patent Concerns => New Black Markets?

[aek@vib.usr.pu.ru (Alexander Kopilovitch)]

Patent Guy wrote:
 
> I am a patent attorney for a major hardware company which files many
> software patents each year and has released subtantial code under OSS
> licenses.  I'm also a computer hobbiest and am working on a couple of
> projects which I plan to release under a BSD style license once they
> are a bit more mature.  As a result, I believe I have a unique view on
> software patents.  Please, note that the following are my personal
> views and may not reflect the views of my employer.

Very good, at last we have an opportunity to see opinion of a professionally
qualified and experienced person, not just interested party.

> I do agree that software patents present problems for
> hobbiest/non-commercial developers.

The issue is not just about private interests. There are fundamental problems
inherently associated with algorithms, for example, generalization. And these
problems can easily produce unsolvable cases for patentability. For example.
comment, please, the following (quite real) situation:

Suppose one invented and patented algorithm A, and then another person invented
and patented another algorithm B. Both algorithms A and B solve the same
problem, but act very differently and have substantially different properties
- A is much faster, but takes huge amount of additional memory, while B is
slow, but needs no additional memory for itself. So far both patents aren't
compete and all seems OK.

Then, some third person invented a general algorithm, which is parametrized
with real variable t. This algorithm works (that is, solves the problem) for
all values of t between (including) 0 and 1, and for smaller t it is faster
and takes more memory, and for t=0 it is identical to algorithm A while for
t=1 it is identical to algorithm B.

How will legal patent system treat this situation, if:

a) inventor of the generalized algorithm wants to acquire patent for his
invention;

b) inventor of the generalized algorithm wants to give it away for free (for
example, under GPL or something alike).



Alexander Kopilovitch                      aek@vib.usr.pu.ru
Saint-Petersburg
Russia