[Patents] patents for information-matter amalgams

[PILCH Hartmut phm@a2e.de]

> > It would also be possible to push the border further back and deny view
> > the PC harddisk as a pure information storage medium, so that bundling MP3
> > software would require no patent license.
> 
> As long as spreading clone software is no contributory infringement.

informational objects could neither be a direct nor a contributory
infringement.  If contriubutory infringement was possible at all, it would
have to consist in offering an IT service that misinforms people about
possible "weak patents" (= "information-matter amalgam patents").

> >   Absolute protection is available only for inventions which which cannot
> >   be reduced to an informational structure.
> >   For expediency reasons, relative protection is available for material
> >   embodiments of informational inventions, as long as the information
> >   is amalgamated inseparably into them (i.e. such that it cannot be
> >   erased from them by normal operations known to the ordinary user)

> So a ROM-BIOS could infringe another BIOS, while an EEPROM or a
> Flash-ROM could not?

I should have said: cannot be modified by user-level operations, i.e. has
a directory structure with files, a user shell, a possibilty of
programming and installing new programs, and access means such as
removable media or network file transfer cability.
 
> And when you say: "At least distributing the programs would not be
> illegal, neither would private use be." 

That I said in another context.
In the case of "weak patent protection", any realisation in the form of
isolated informational entities would be usable and exploitable
unconditionally.
The "weak patent" would nonetheless be profitable in many cases, such as
MP3.

-phm