Programs are mathematical proofs. If maths cannot be patented, software can’t be, either.
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This is all well and good, and where’s the Traffic Cone!?!
Asking the real questions here.
Under Santa’s hat
Can someone elaborate?
They don’t recognize or value software patents because they aren’t recognized by the government where the project is run from.
Vive la France!
French laws don’t recognize software patents so videolan doesn’t either. This is likely a reference to vlc supporting h265 playback without verifying a license. These days most opensource software pretends that the h265 patents and licensing fees don’t exist for convenience. I believe libavcodec is distributed with support enabled by default.
Nearly every device with hardware accelerated h265 support has already had the license paid for, so there’s not much point in enforcing it. Only large companies like Microsoft and Red Hat bother.
They bother because they are US based and can be hounded by the patent
trollsholderslet’s not go too far though… the holders of h264/h265 did put a lot of money and effort into developing the codec: a new actual thing… they are not patent trolls, who by definition produce nothing new other than legal mess
America has the odd idea that software is considered patentable. Since the developers of VLC are French, and software isn’t considered patentable in France, they’re saying “Va te faire enculer” to people who want to sue them.
Why is it odd to be able to patent software specifically? I don’t see how it’s different from medicine or anything physical. To clarify, I’m not arguing the merits of patents in general, just asking why software is different.
Because software is math, and like math, it’s basically a way of expressing things that are true about the universe. Allowing only some people to say those things would be nonsense.
Imagine if someone patented Pythagora’s Theorem and only they were allowed to use it. You couldn’t even begin to count the ways in which it would be impractical. Similarly, audio or video codecs for example are just ways of describing sound waves or images more efficiently.
Yes, there is work that goes into finding these algorithms, just like there is work that goes into new mathematical theorems and proofs, but that work gets rewarded and protected in other ways (copyright etc.)
I get it now, but moreso because of the argument that another person made. I don’t get your argument that “math can’t be patented.” If that were the case, anyone discovering a new drug through software couldn’t patent it because it was made in software, and since software is just math using a combination of known axioms, theorems etc, that drug was derived from axioms, and therefore that drug wouldn’t be patentable. It’s like saying you can’t patent a wheel, not because the wheel was invented a number of times, but because the wheel was made out of wood. Patented tech, by nature, has to be produced by existing things regardless of whether those things are patented. It shouldn’t matter if the invention is inherently physical or not.
You can copyright software code, just like any other written work, to protect you from people literally copy and pasting your work, but the idea that you could patent things like “slide left to unlock” is just stupid, as it’s a fundamental concept and software is full of fundamental concepts.
Compression algorithms being patentable is even more stupid, as it would be like somebody claiming they own Pi, just because they figured it out first. Imagine not being able to compute the circumference of a circle without paying somebody for the privilege.
Like auto update and auto driver installation? They expired for sure, but especially the auto driver installation patent is hilarious. Like no shit sherlock: Check the internet for appropriate drivers. Check internet for driver with the device md5 hash and the version of the driver installer. Download driver if it’s a newer version. Install driver if md5 hash matches. Repeat for all devices, and that’s fucking it. Plus an irrelevant figure that shows a computer connected to a printer, scanner and the internet. 3 pages in total, of which 1 page is a copy of another page, so only 2 real pages in total.
Who the heck thought these should’ve been approved and why?
“slide left to unlock” is just stupid, as it’s a fundamental concept
Without arguing the benefits/drawbacks of software patents, isn’t slide to unlock only a fundamental concept because Apple invented and popularized it? To me, it only seems trivial because it’s ubiquitous, whereas that might not have been the case before the iPhone.
Compression algorithms being patentable is even more stupid, as it would be like somebody claiming they own Pi
I don’t see why this is unique to software. As long as the proof is convoluted enough, how would it differ from making a physical D-pad? Both are made from already discovered axioms/materials, and both are transformed via known ways in a unique order into new tools to accomplish a particular task. If a D-pad patent should be allowed, why not a compression algorithm?
You can hear a more detailed explanation on VLC’s stance from the man himself (JB Kempf) in the FOSS pod S1E11 episode around 22:10.
Basically:
- Not that many threats become lawsuits
- Patent trolling is countered with publicly accessible prior art
- Having no money is also a good deterrent
Wait, I thought all countries followed US laws???
What are these “other country” things you mention? You mean the place where war happens and immigrants come from? I didn’t know they had computers there.
They’re probably talking about Puerto Rico.
This is a common misconception. Non-US countries have computers, but only a privileged few know how to use them: https://youtu.be/IrCQh1usdzE?t=944
Please be sarcasm… Please be sarcasm… Oh I pray to the dark void of the universe that this is sarcasm.
Utterly based.
