Comment Re:Is it possible (Score 1) 330
Your ECU example is not an example of a software patent but an example of a system patent that employes software. The use of software in a control system is so old that it is probably not patentable on its own. Forty years ago software was used in control systems but it was not practical to implement it for the standard automobile. I would bet that there were test engines run by mini-computers of the time.
There are many examples that show what are bad software patents. The recent Redhat/Novell case which invalidated iPi's patents show some of the absurdity of software patents. HPs recent patent on number order that is a mathematical process that has been done for nearly a century, why is it patentable when done in software and not on a yellow pad of paper? There have even been a case or two of patents for software methods that have been taught for decades.