Software on a storage medium is no different then words on paper. Can
applying a certain structure of words on paper be patentable? I should hope the
absurdity of such a suggestion can easily reach the intelligence of
Congress.
Which is why I tried to separate the physical invention (the
specific storage medium itself) from the mental exercise (the
software).
The Federal Circuit's question seems to conflate software with
hardware as though applying software to a general purpose computer somehow makes
a new device. In that sense, the Patent Lawyers like Gene Quinn have won in
their arguments that somehow the ephemeral can actually physically change the
physical.
Hopefully sooner - rather then later - the Federal Circuit will
realize just how bizarre such a suggestion is. It's like saying "authoring your
biography with a pencil on paper changes the physical nature of the paper -
which is actually more true given you're adding a chemical that would otherwise
not be part of the paper. But I would hope such a suggestion would be frowned
upon:
Let's patent the application of specific words to paper as that alters
the physical nature of the paper thereby creating a new material!
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