

Intel Patents 'Multiplying Two Numbers' - sushumna
http://www.tomshardware.com/news/intel-patent-uspto-cryptography,12614.html#xtor=RSS-181

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obtino
Intel's patented a variation on the Karatsuba algorithm. It hasn't simply
patented 'multiplying two numbers' as stated!

More info: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karatsuba_algorithm>

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JoachimSchipper
That said, the (original) algorithm is well-known and even novel algorithms
shouldn't be patentable.

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arethuza
"even novel algorithms shouldn't be patentable"

Even though I have a couple of patents to my name I am generally against
software patents, sometimes I think that for genuinely novel algorithms there
should be an exception (e.g. RSA encryption). However, as there is clearly no
way of objectively defining what a "novel" algorithm is (i.e. there is no
algorithm for it) we can't really have this exception.

So yes, I would agree that algorithms should not be patentable.

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JoachimSchipper
Even if RSA really is sufficiently novel (note that it had already been
discovered by a secret service four years before publication), is that really
worth a 20-year monopoly?

