[Patents] weak protection patents

[PILCH Hartmut phm@a2e.de]

> But one the other hand, it was classically accepted that if
> you specify a precise device or physical process as an
> execution environment (including all input/output devices
> and contents) and if the patent protection scope is granted
> only to that device or process and does not extend for
> instance to the execution of the same software in another
> execution environment, then patentability can be reasonable.

It would probably not be useful to have a patent for only one
specific device on which an inventive information system runs.

It could however be useful to have a patent for "all
non-user-reprogrammable devices on which the system runs".

This would still be easy to circumvent, but circumvention could have quite
high economic costs and therefore a lot of people would still be inclined
to bargain with the patent proprietor.

I'd call that scheme "weak protection" or "relative protection".
It should be explicitely labelled as a special type of "weak
protection patent", so as to

- avoid it being used as an entry point to subvert the system,
  as was done before
- make people aware that weak protection is enough for most cases in
  modern economy.  Actually the MIT study
  http://www.researchoninnovation.org/patent.pdf
  advocates weak protection.

The only problem might be that, by compromising on the principle of "the
nucleus of the invention must be material", we may open a floodgate to
organisational methods that are implemented on EPROM-like devices.

Still, the risk is not big, because such methods are not very useful and
the patent protection offered to them would be even weaker than in the
case of devices like MP3.

Also, one could exclude any extension to business methods and the like by
specifying that the whole process must, in principle, operate fully
automatically on natural forces and not require, in order to be useful,
any human intervention in the process.  Thus one would perhaps have some
complex rules, but under the given circumstances they could be useful as a
means of satisfying companies like Siemens and Alcatel and forming a
larger alliance.  It could also be stated that the "weak protection
patent" system is experimental and may be removed or transformed to a sui
generis system after 20 years of experience with it.

-phm