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Comment by kabouseng | Hacker News Reader

In broad terms for a patent to be granted an invention must be unique, innovative and non-obvious.

I am not sure if f.lux is entirely non-obvious...

I would say that changing color temperature based on time of day (and location on the planet) as a means to reduce late-night eyestrain and fatigue is something non-obvious, yes. I never even thought about color temperature and the influence of it on your sleeping patterns (esp. late at night) until the guy behind f.lux came by.

is it so non-obvious that it requires the state guarantee decades-long monopoly to ensure f.lux can make a return on the significant research & development costs?

could we expect no more non-obvious apps like f.lux get made if the state doesn't guarantee decades-long monopoly?

You've changed the question from "is the invention non-obvious, in the sense that current law requires to grand a patent?" to "do you agree with current patent laws and the value of patents?"

interestingly, f.lux is also free, at least for me. i use it yet haven't paid a dime. so it doesn't exactly look like they're trying to make a profit.. and i'm glad for that.

> […] changing color temperature based on time of day […] to reduce late-night eyestrain and fatigue is something non-obvious

There are themes for text editors which have both a day and night version (and some users will without a doubt have setup cron to switch automatically).

There are also blue-blocking filters recommended to wear at night for improving your sleep rhythm.

Of course none of this means that the f.lux author can’t obtain a patent on something related to his software. The question is if it will hold up if later disputed.

f.lux is less obvious than 'click a button to buy/ship something automatically', but Amazon's one-click patent has been around since 1999.

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