Will software patents be allowable in Europe as they have been in the U.S.? I am personally quite ambivalent about this issue, due to the PTO's historical (hysterical?) inability to distinguish between the obvious and the non-obvious. I have nothing at all against software patents in principle, and in fact have software patents of my own, usually involving new mathematical formulas for accomplishing tasks in software.

Arguments that "you shouldn't be able to patent an idea, and software patents let you do so" are wrong and stupid, because any patent is basically an idea... the fact that some ideas are instantiated in patterns of gears and pipes and some are made out of patterns of electrons as part of a larger silicon device which is part of a larger metal or plastic box makes no material difference.

But in practice, the PTO grants patents to things that are totally obvious, or which have substantial prior art. And while such patents can theoretically be overturned, in practice the courts give the benefit of the doubt to the patent examiners, who are supposedly the experts in determining what is and isn't an innovation. Also, small companies don't necessarily have the resources to defend themselves in court, which is why patent abusers tend to target small companies first. These facts make software patents, in general, more of a burden than a boon to the world as a whole.

And since the incompetence of the PTO seems to be incurable, it may be that the only solution is to not have software patents, despite the fact that there is nothing theoretically wrong with them.
10:24:04 AM