Re: [Patents] Software patents: the case against

[Bernhard Kaindl <bernhard.kaindl@gmx.de>]

Hi,

> An instruction manual : I like the idea of this but I am not sure if people
> could equate this with a process based example. I was also not sure because
> the instruction manual could relate to a legitimately patented technology.

There is an analogy with a cooking recipe(also a instruction manual
if you like).

If you write an cooking recipe, you can give it to anyone else who has a
kitchen and a cook(or program a bread baking machine using the recipe)
and the cooking device will be able to roll out exactly what is written
in the cooking machine, so you can get something automated which was a
highly knowledgeable process before.

Cooking recipes also give knowlegde, and you can make money from working
with cooking recipes, the only thing which is left for patentability is
something "techical" but I've heard that an argument has been brought
forward that if something needs less storage or works quicker, it must
be technical.

I think it will not be very hard for an experienced cook to modify some
cooking recipes in a way where the end result is that it needs less boiler
plates, pots or time, or make the cooking result "lighter" or "bigger" or
"softer" or "more creamy", so... Wouln't it be a technical effect then?

So why not patenting new ways of cooking? Actually the USPTO has such:

US 5,939,113 ; Issued in 1999 ; Free-standing lasagna product:
http://www.ipwatchdog.com/obscurepatents/obspat_2_28_03.html

Well, it might be a useful patent, but I think generic logic patents
have some drawbacks in comparsion, e.g. no new "construction" is needed,
the level of many is more like "mixing viscous sauce with fluid sauce
gives a medium sauce" or something like this and not a "Free-standing
lasagna product".

Maybe this comparsion belongs more to the world of jokes, OTOH...
At least is sounds funny to me :-)

Bernhard
--
Unrelated, but here is cooking calculator which has... "patent pending":
http://www.calculated.com/products/cooking/