If you extend your reasoning, then drugs, materials, etc. should not be patentable either because they are just biology, chemistry, etc. Do you think new drugs or alloys should receive patent protection?

I think your comparison of physics and math to compression and crypto is easily distinguishable based on the idea of laws of nature vs application of those laws. Everything in this world is just applications of physics, chemistry, and biology (with the latter 2 being dependent on the former). Do you believe that patents should exist at all?

How about a new CPU? Is that patentable? How about an FPGA that implements the same functionality of the new CPU when properly programed?

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• Provocative questions... - Authored by: Gringo_ on Tuesday, October 16 2012 @ 08:34 AM EDT
• Re: Furthermore... - Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, October 16 2012 @ 11:47 AM EDT