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Genetic Programming : An Introduction
Imagine a world in which computers program other computers based on strategies borrowed from biology and natural selection. The book explores such fascinating possibilities thanks to AI!
More information at Amazon US UK

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Patenting information

I'm not sure that there's a difference between "technology" and "software". I'm not that familiar with Amazon, but surely "one-click" is just a piece of software of some sort. Surely the "technology" which is being used to run the software is a PC, which itself isn't really patentable.

Software is really just a combination of data and algorithms (data + interpretation = information), like the words and sentances of a poem. If I could patent a piece of software does that also mean that I could patent one of my poems?

For example:

Factory worker
the watchmakers strongest son
arms cascading through space
time, the unforgiving metronome
on a stage of smoke and tarnish
perhaps only those metal hands
worn down by years of toil
could tell the stories of your forefathers

Perhaps more worrying though, what if someone patented the type of vision system software which I'm working on. Would that mean that if I did any further research I would be acting illegally?

- Bob

136 posts.
Thursday 29 August, 02:19
Reply
Significant difference

The concept of patenting ideas like "one-click" is still very much controversial, but technology is not reliant on the software it is written in. It is possible to implement somebody else's breakthrough idea in any programming language there is, so therefore it is necessary to patent the idea rather than the written code (which is copyrighted). Its also important to recognise the difference between software technology and hardware technology. Its a relatively new concept to patent business processes such as "one-click".

The type of system that you are working on can only be patented by someone else if they implement it first. They have to produce evidence that they have done the work themselves and there has been no previous precedent. That said, the system is open to abuse, particularly in america where many small companies and inventors claim that opportunists and large companies hi-jack their ideas.

Linden

26 posts.
Thursday 29 August, 15:36
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Algorithms?

I'm still a little confused about what "technology" means in this respect, which in the context of a patent I had assumed would refer to some sort of invention (a piece of engineering).

Does that mean that "technology" in the example case of "one-click" refers to the algorithm, since you can usually implement any given algorithm in any programming language you like. An algorithm is just a systematic procedure for carrying out some operation, rather like a recipe for baking a cake.

- Bob

136 posts.
Friday 30 August, 02:27
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Software Tech

I guess its like building a monitor using some method that was invented by someone else. You may not use exactly the same materials, and your process may have slight differences, but if the end product operates in exactly the same way as, say, Sony's Trinitron, you would be breaching the patent. In software its the same concept. I'm not really an expert, and I'm not sure at what level software tech is assessed but I will attempt explain what I understand by it.

Take something like microsofts Active Server Pages for dynamic web application authoring. This consists of various methods, objects and collections, such as Request/Response, file collections, file objects, sessions, applications etc. Microsoft has patented ASP as a technology that it invented and owns. If someone were to now design a system that operated like ASP and used the same objects as ASP then it would be breaching Microsofts patent even if it was written using LISP rather than C#. However, alternative technologies, such as JSP, that ultimately carry out the same functions as ASP, use entirely different methods to achieve dynamic web pages.

This is where open source and the Gnu Public Licence come in. There was widespread objection to the patenting of (even fundamental) technologies and whatsis face (can't remember his name) came up with the GPL. Now, if you use a technology that is licenced in this way, your invention must also operate under GPL and it is free for everyone to use and include in their own work.

Thats the gist of it as I understand it anyway. Hope that clears things up,

Linden

26 posts.
Friday 30 August, 06:42
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