David's Blague

The Supreme Court of the US just heard oral arguments in an interesting case about business process.  Bilski v. Kappos (warning, it's a PDF) was argued in such a way as to exclude patentability of software, though it has been described as relevant to that conversation.  I read the oral arguments this morning.  I'm not a follower of the court, in general, but I care about this topic, and I had a spare half hour. 

The thing that struck me most profoundly about the proceedings was that the justices are smart.  Really smart.  The most impressive sound bite was from Justice Breyer, who offered the following hypothetical argument (top of page 45 in the transcript):

"...this is not a machine. The machine there is a computer. This is a program that changes switches, and that is a different process for the use of the machine."

That is, perhaps, the best description of software, and the best argument against software patents I have ever encountered.  I'll be interested to see where the court lands on this in the future.

As for the Bilski case, it's too bad both sides can't lose.  Either way, though, the court gets a big thumbs up from me.

Labels: patents, software