wjb%cogsci.COG.JHU.EDU@vm1.nodak.edu (04/25/91)
In article <2410@tuvie.UUCP> hp@vmars.tuwien.ac.at (Peter Holzer) writes: >.... >So far as algorithms go, my understanding is that you CAN't patent them. >But of course you can copyright a particular implementation of one. >... Not true any more. At least, the US Patent Office has been giving patents for what are essentially algorithms for the past 5 years or more. Take a look in gnu.misc.discuss as this comes up periodically there. If you have access to "ftp", I believe they keep some information about the "League for Programming Freedom" which is fighting this trend on prep.ai.mit.edu. Examples are: 1. RSA encryption algorithm 2. LZW compresssion algorithm (compress, pkzip, etc.) 3. some kind of patent on a method of doing windowing by AT&T (may cover backing store) 4. XORing graphics cursors (every graphics 5. the original setuid patent (now released by AT&T) 6. Patent on concept of a token ring .... Whether any of these are enforcable or not, I don't know. But given the current legal climate which seems to have swung toward pro-patent rights, it is worrying. Don't forget that Polaroid got a Billion? (1e9) dollars from Kodak in their patent infringement suit... Bill Bogstad
anson@akb.in-berlin.de (Andreas Bewersdorff) (04/28/91)
Hallo ! In <51770@nigel.ee.udel.edu>, wjb%cogsci.COG.JHU.EDU@vm1.nodak.edu writes: () ... At least, the US Patent Office has been giving () patents for what are essentially algorithms for the past 5 years or more. () ... () Examples are: () 4. XORing graphics cursors (every graphics When I got an Apple II+ in 1980, one of the first things I was taught about graphics was to XOR shapes (lines/bitimages), e.g. to select some frame in a picture or to use them as a cursor. I wrote a printerdriver using this technique. Would I have done something illegal if I had lived in the USA or would I do something illegal if I sold this program now ? Why didn't *I* patent this method ? :-) In <1991Apr24.164057.20338@agate.berkeley.edu>, Dave Cottingham writes: () ... The US Patent Office has been () issuing software patents like crazy for about five years now. Are () they valid? ... () ... if your country signs this, you'll find the following () algorithms protected by patent (they're patented in the US already): () ... and include files (used by everything). And many more. ... same question again : most interpreters have something similar. Even 'ancient Basic' has the commands 'chain' and 'merge', which I used to merge my printerdriver to any other program. The equivalent method for compilers are includefiles. Would this part of my program (or the Basic- interpreter itself) have been illegal ? I'm just writing a program which uses <space> to jump to the next item and which uses <CR> to select the current item. Is there a patent too ? :-) :-) mfG Andreas ps : Is there some patent on displaying information on a screen ? :-) :-) Could give someone big bucks like the patent for microprocessors ... -- Andreas Bewersdorff | SIG under construction D-1000 Berlin 12 | read at your own risk! anson@akb.in-berlin.de | ophening werry sonn nouw ...