WRITING about software patents from the USPTO, the EFF has this good article about "January's Stupid Patent of the Month", which serves as a reminder of what it means to have patents on software. Here are some key portions: "What does White Knuckle claim to have invented? The patent covers a computer “configured” to “provide a sports video game” with “parameters” that can be updated over the Internet. Of course, White Knuckle didn’t actually invent computers, sports video games, or the Internet."

"The SCOTUS ruling in favour of the defendant in the Alice case helps bring us closer to a world where software patents are verboten."As they put it in short, "This is insane. You wouldn’t consider a “car that can drive in San Francisco” to be a different invention from “a car that can drive in Los Angeles.” It’s just a car. But the Patent Office lets applicants draw technologically irrelevant distinctions like this all the time. In essence, White Knuckle’s patent is just a claim to remotely updating software. There’s nothing technologically special about updating a video game (at least, no such problems are discussed and solved by this patent)."

Hopefully we can live in a world free from software patents, not only in Europe but also in the US and east Asia (where such patents exist to some degree). The SCOTUS ruling in favour of the defendant in the Alice case helps bring us closer to a world where software patents are verboten. ⬆