Comment Re:OK, this is just ridiculous. (Score 2, Interesting) 328
If you've done any medical software, you'd know you're forced to reveal algorithms there, too.
Applying for the patent in fact _forces_ you to reveal the algorithm to the entire world. That's the entire point of the patent process. You reveal it to the world instead of hiding it, and as a result you get exclusivity for a period of time. If you don't want to reveal it, you have no leg to stand on if someone else manages to also invent it. There are very good historical reasons for this system, the most significant of one was that it was felt to be in the *public's* best interest for inventors to reveal their ways and means, and thereby fuel more innovation in the same area. Virtuous circle and all that rot, roight?
Now, 14 year software patents are a little more powerful than 14 year drug patents, of which half the term is expired before you even manage to get the drug to market. There's probably room to tweak the system a bit for software. But fundamentally the system does what it's designed to do.
Applying for the patent in fact _forces_ you to reveal the algorithm to the entire world. That's the entire point of the patent process. You reveal it to the world instead of hiding it, and as a result you get exclusivity for a period of time. If you don't want to reveal it, you have no leg to stand on if someone else manages to also invent it. There are very good historical reasons for this system, the most significant of one was that it was felt to be in the *public's* best interest for inventors to reveal their ways and means, and thereby fuel more innovation in the same area. Virtuous circle and all that rot, roight?
Now, 14 year software patents are a little more powerful than 14 year drug patents, of which half the term is expired before you even manage to get the drug to market. There's probably room to tweak the system a bit for software. But fundamentally the system does what it's designed to do.
