Courts are shaping law on software patentability; the critical question of whether software is patentable is still evolving in the Federal Circuit
Article Abstract:
Federal courts remain divided over when computer software is patentable under 35 USC 101. At present the code must apparently exist in combination with a machine, within a physical process, or perhaps in a defined storage medium, in order to be patentable. Federal courts sometimes but not always use the Freeman-Walter-Abele test, with varying results. Some findings have stated that programs are physical processes because they alter electrical signals, and others that programmed computers become special-purpose devices.
Publication Name: The National Law Journal
Subject: Law
ISSN: 0162-7325
Year: 1995
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Existing laws fail to protect software adequately: a new legal regime is needed to shield what a program does rather than the text it contains
Article Abstract:
Current software protections fail to encourage innovation because only the text of the program is protected while any innovations are open to duplication by competitors. Patent law does not apply to incremental innovations and trade secret protection is not available because the program is mass distributed. Therefore, a new law with a temporary market-preservation period, covering both the associated industrial designs and the program behavior, is necessary to encourage innovation while averting market failure.
Publication Name: The National Law Journal
Subject: Law
ISSN: 0162-7325
Year: 1995
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Internet software may be be protected abroad; counsel's challenge is to overcome policy, statutes and case law that limit U.S. patents' scope to the nation's borders
Article Abstract:
The article cautions that the territorial limitations of US patents can cause the failure patent infringement claims in the context of Web-based software patents, but that the Process Patent Amendments Act can extend patent protection beyond US borders.The author gives steps for the careful drafting of patent claims for Internet business models to maximize their patent protection..
Publication Name: The National Law Journal
Subject: Law
ISSN: 0162-7325
Year: 1999
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