We should abolish software patents. Reason software builds on Mathematics and you cannot patent Mathematics.
We all build on others previous work.
We all build on others previous work.
Maybe so.
> Reason software builds on Mathematics and you cannot patent Mathematics.
This is not a convincing reason. All engineering builds on mathematics; this is not specific to software.
It's a small but very important distinction.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_patents_under_the_Eur...
To be patentable, an invention must be "fixed in a tangible medium of expression" (or something like that). So the first software patents tried saying "we are patenting the following algorithm ... running on a hardware computer!" Amazingly they got away with it and have been getting away with it ever since.
Hm, I wonder if you could argue that running the algorithm on a virtual machine doesn't violate the patent....
To be patentable in the US, an invention must be a "process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof". It must be at least partly new. It must be useful. And it must be non-obvious.
Abstract ideas are generally not patentable in the US, and the Supreme Court has declared that "this abstract idea, but implemented on a computer" is also generally not patentable.
I think Transmeta tried that by arguing that an x86 JIT doesn't infringe on patents for x86 processors.