[Discuss] FYI - a purely software embodiment is not patent eligible

[blu at nedharvey.com (Edward Ned Harvey)]

> From: discuss-bounces+blu=nedharvey.com at blu.org [mailto:discuss-
> bounces+blu=nedharvey.com at blu.org] On Behalf Of Hsuan-Yeh Chang
> 
> 1.  In a recent administrative decision, the US patent office held that a
> "purely software embodiment" is not patent eligible.

Hooey.

Even if you design & build hardware, the thing you patent is the design,
which is all written in software (HDL, Verilog, etc.)  and then compiled
into hardware.  They also take these hardware designs, and run them on
simulators, aka virtual machines, in which case they are a purely software
embodiment.

Many many devices are designed as functional "black boxes," and in
implementation, internally there is a DSP and some programmed behavior,
which is modifiable via firmware update.  For such devices, nearly all of
the proprietary invention exists in the software program and not the actual
physical hardware, which is a generic processing unit and some more or less
generic memories.

The line between hard & soft ware is far too blurred.  Even if such a
decision has been made, there's no way it will stand up under pressure.