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Should business be allowed to patent mathematics? | 128 comments | Create New Account
Comments belong to whoever posts them. Please notify us of inappropriate comments.
This is extremely silly
Authored by: artp on Monday, March 18 2013 @ 11:18 PM EDT
Where is Monty Python when you really need them?

I have been reviewing my options for defense against the
patentization of the entire world so that mega-corporations
may be properly monetized and meet their quarterly profit
goals and be able to properly reward their executives with a
few more hundred million dollars each.

I think I shall have to start charging people for breathing.
It's quite simple, really. I have a 280 acre farm, mostly in
pasture, and it generates quite a bit of oxygen every year.
I have never claimed any carbon sequestration tax credits,
so it should be on the up and up. That oxygen permeates the
entire globe, so I figure I should be able to charge people
for it - selectively, of course. Large pockets only.

As long as PETA doesn't come along with their charges that
global warming is caused by bovine flatulence, I should get
through this just fine.

;-)

---
Userfriendly on WGA server outage:
When you're chained to an oar you don't think you should go down when the galley
sinks ?

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Should business be allowed to patent mathematics?
Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, March 19 2013 @ 07:03 AM EDT
' "software is mathematics", meaning that software shouldn't be
patentable. The odds are stacked against them, though – there's too much money
at stake. '

It's a shame that none of these "buisness executives" understand that
everyone is trying to stop them doing something _*very*_ stupid. But then they
can't see past their paycheck at the end of the month, I suppose, and they
aren't trying to look there either, it must be so terrifying.

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Should business be allowed to patent mathematics?
Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, March 19 2013 @ 08:47 AM EDT
I believe that the Constitution talks about both inventions
and discoveries as being patentable. However, what I see
here is just the greedy trying to get even more. The USPTO
will grant patents on anything as far as I can tell regardless
of what the law as written by Congress says. The USPTO
already patents algorithms. Just take a formula and express
it as an algorithm and bingo! You can get a patent.

At some point the US patent system will implode on its own
generosity and largess. It won't come too soon either.

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Can I patent boolean arithmetic?
Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, March 20 2013 @ 07:23 PM EDT
Can I jump in and patent the NAND function? Using this simple Boolean operator,
I can replicate every logical and mathematical operation. With a single patent
on one very specific operation, I could patent the entire field of mathematics
since all mathematical theorems are built on others that came before, and can
therefore be reduced to the NAND operation.

If any of you are thinking that you can patent the NOR operation to get around
my patent, don't bother. Since NOR can be defined using a combination of NAND
operations, I've got you there too.

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

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