Re: Software Patents

[Lee Hollaar]

In article <p4adnckeKOEuDeTbnZ2dnUVZ_vCknZ2d@insightbb.com> rjack <rjack@com> 
writes:
>It appears that the term "software patent" is a term that has entered
>the World without benefit of the federal courts or Congress. A Google
>search (admittedly not exhaustive) reveals no published court opinion
>that incorporates the phrase "software patent". Especially telling is a
>search of published opinions of the Supreme Court and Federal Circuit's
>official opinions.

Perhaps literally true, but only because Google is the wrong place to
search.

"Must a software patent disclose every potential coding variation that
performs a claimed function?"  University of Rochester v. G.D. Searle,
375 F.3d 1303, 71 USPQ2d 1545 (dissent by Judge Rader).

There are also some district court cases that use the term, and other
cases that use variants of it, such as "patented software."

But like many legal terms (such as "free speech"), the term is just
a shorthand for a large number of cases setting imprecise boundaries.