Software is one of the hardest technical fields to get patents in, but it’s not due to Bilski. It’s due to prior art. Even companies that file patent applications strictly for defensive purposes, like Red Hat, have trouble overcoming the prior art that the patent examiners come up with. It’s not uncommon for applications to <a href=http://ipwatchdog.com/2010/08/16/reducing-patent-backlog-prosecution-costs-using-pair-data/id=12108/> go through 10 or more rejections </a> before companies finally narrow their claims enough so that they can get allowed. At 6 months per rejection, that’s a five year delay in issuance.
The solution, in my opinion, is outside review by experts before filing. These experts really know what is out there and can help an applicant set realistic expectations on what is genuinely new and inventive in their innovations. This can be expensive, but it more than pays for itself in timely issuance of genuinely worthwhile patents.
<em>I also agree that there is an appropriate use of copyright in software, namely the visible representation of a concept. Amazon's shopping cart should have been copyrighted, not patented.</em>
Actually, there is a special type of patent used to protect icons and screen layouts. It’s called a design patent. Here is an example of one of Amazon’s design patents. http://bit.ly/amazondesignpatent
Authored Comments
Software is one of the hardest technical fields to get patents in, but it’s not due to Bilski. It’s due to prior art. Even companies that file patent applications strictly for defensive purposes, like Red Hat, have trouble overcoming the prior art that the patent examiners come up with. It’s not uncommon for applications to <a href=http://ipwatchdog.com/2010/08/16/reducing-patent-backlog-prosecution-costs-using-pair-data/id=12108/> go through 10 or more rejections </a> before companies finally narrow their claims enough so that they can get allowed. At 6 months per rejection, that’s a five year delay in issuance.
The solution, in my opinion, is outside review by experts before filing. These experts really know what is out there and can help an applicant set realistic expectations on what is genuinely new and inventive in their innovations. This can be expensive, but it more than pays for itself in timely issuance of genuinely worthwhile patents.
At least that's been our experience.
<em>I also agree that there is an appropriate use of copyright in software, namely the visible representation of a concept. Amazon's shopping cart should have been copyrighted, not patented.</em>
Actually, there is a special type of patent used to protect icons and screen layouts. It’s called a design patent. Here is an example of one of Amazon’s design patents. http://bit.ly/amazondesignpatent