Software is not hardware, social sciences are not natural sciences.

[Russell McOrmond <russell@flora.ca>]

On Wed, 10 Mar 2004, Gregory Aharonian wrote:

> I assume you mean that "information processes when expressed in software
> should not be patentable, but information processes when expressed in
> hardware should be patentable"?

  You would assume wrong.

  You seem to spend a lot of time trying to manipulate language to suggest
that hardware is software, software is hardware, intangibles are tangible,
social sciences are natural sciences, politicians are engineers, and other
such things.

  I think that http://swpat.ffii.org/players/aharonian/ has a pretty good ;
summary of your "Propagating a Disease, Selling a Medicine" motivations 
and some of your "information is physical" rhetoric.

  I am simply saying that information processes should not be patentable.

  Give us a concrete example of an information process that is expressed
in hardware and we will separate out the components of the information
process into hardware, software, design and other components -- each of
which have their own form of protection - all of which you wish to try to
bundle as if it were all one thing and all patentable.


  I will try to remain open minded about this even if you won't.  It would
be helpful if you can give us a concrete example of an information process
expressed in hardware that you believe should be patentable.  I have thus
far had no problems with patents on tangibles (art, process, machine,
manufacture or composition of matter involving natural sciences), but can
be convinced otherwise.  Your example can not convince me to support
patents on information processes in software, but could easily convince me
to also oppose patentability of information processes expressed in
hardware as well.

> and when you say that "Software is not technology, but technical knowledge,
> a service or policy", you really mean that "Software is not technology,
> but technical knowledge, a service or policy, unless the software is a
> description of hardware (VHDL), then the software is technology."

  Round and round we go, where and when Greg stops nobody knows ;-)

  When I say software is not a technology I simply mean software is not a
technology.

  Industrial designs such as hardware expressed in VHDL (VHSIC Hardware
Description Language) are not software, and have their own Sui Generis (of
its kind) form of protection that is neither copyright nor patent.  Given
they have their own form of protection they should not also have patent
protection.  Discussion of industrial designs is largely off-topic for
this list other than in the minds of "everything is a patent" extremists.  
Just because some people only understand or like hammers doesn't make the
whole world into a nail.


  I am not saying everyone is on the same page as this.  I am working with
fellow GOSLINGcommunity.org to get governments to choose and acquire
software and hardware separately rather than buying "word processing
devices" and ending up making poor acquisition decisions.  There is much
that the legacy "software manufacturing" sector has left us with decision
makers not having a clue of what software is or how to make decisions
about it.  We are slowly getting there.



  I am not saying anything radical and just repeating what Canadian courts
have said in the past: the existence of software neither adds to nor
subtracts from the patentability of an invention.  This means that if you
only have pure software you don't have a patent as there is no invention
involving natural sciences to "add to nor subtract from".

  Unfortunately the Canadian patent office has been ignoring this rational
interpretation and thus far believe the "information is physical",
"politicians are engineers", "social sciences are natural sciences"  
rhetoric from a few political extremists.

-- 
 Russell McOrmond, Internet Consultant: <http://www.flora.ca/> 
 "Make it legal: don't litigate, use creative licensing" campaign.
 A modern answer to P2P: http://www.flora.ca/makelegal200403.shtml
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