Today the Supreme Court of the United States tossed out a software patent claim by Australian Alice Corporation, saying that the method claims were “abstract,” required only “generic” implementation, and fell short of a patent-eligible invention. The media are reporting this decision as a victory for software companies, and a blow to “patent trolls.” Many comments from around the industry are reported in this Forbes blog post.
Software patents have been, and will continue to be, a controversial area. On one hand, good software does require investment in research and production. Without protection, the incentive to undertake that work will not exist. On the other hand, some software patents seem, well, ridiculous.
Intellectual Property Law is an especially dizzying area where what appears as plain common sense, at first glance, turns out to be very subtle, and very different, under the law. If you are a coder who has developed something new, and want to protect and develop it, get good legal advice, and get it early.