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They could patent the process of cutting that shape though, if it's sufficiently complicated.

But again, that will only hold for some bizarre new shape. Anything using existing techniques and any cuts you can't plausibly claim copyright on will still be fine, and that's going to be almost everything.

If de Beers wants to patent and copyright some bizarre foamy cut of a diamond that does some exotic thing, that's fine, but it's not going to be "a diamond ring" as most people think of them.

I don't know, lots of things that shouldn't be patentable seem to somehow become patentable when you say the magic words "using a computer." Maybe de Beers' legal team will come up with some gemstone equivalent.

But, on the other hand just because you can get a patent, doesn't mean it can't be challenged.

Patents last for 20 years and can be invalidated or worked around. Copyright is ~forever.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_term

Beautiful illustration of how "for now" becomes "forever" as "now" moves forward.

Even that graph is on the low side for corporate projects. Just include a few teenagers in the process and push the expected lifetime up another 40 years.

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