[Patents] Hardware/software codesign

[Gregory Aharonian srctran@world.std.com]

>Mr. Aharonian as well as other proponents fail to answer the one and
>ONLY question: are software patents beneficial to society???

Yes, as beneficial to society as patents for any other type of
technology.  There is nothing special about software, it is the
latest area of technology to be "hot" and therefore stress the
patent systems around the world.  All of these arguments on this
list have been heard repeatedly for the last one hundred years
(i.e. "why should transistor circuits be patentable - they are
all obvious from early vacuum tube circuit patents"), most
recently for biotechnology.  In fact, in terms of disruptions
to research and development, suffering by consumers, and
distortions in the marketplace, biotechnology patenting is
causing orders more problems than software patents (i.e. if
you can't afford access to my patented software product, you
go read a book - if you can't afford access to my patented AIDS
drug, you die).

I have no problem questioning the patentability of software, as
long as it is done in the context of questioning the patentability
of all areas of technology as we enter the 21st century.  But
there is no science and no logic in separating out software.

Greg Aharonian