

Mathematics Cannot be Patented. Case Dismissed - grimey27
http://www.rackspace.com/blog/mathematics-cannot-be-patented-case-dismissed/

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genwin
I think what really happened is that the Eastern Texas court district used
this case to show legitimacy. They'll still eagerly allow less ridiculous but
still ridiculous lawsuits from NPE plaintiffs. I see Eastern Texas a bit like
Somalia. I imagine patent trolls cause $millions annually to drop into the
area. Patent trolling is effectively an industry there, upon which many jobs
and pensions depend.

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PaulAJ
Now the lawyers and judges just need to realise that "mathematical" !=
"numeric" and we're home free.

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rogueSkib
So you can't patent math ... but certain numbers can still be illegal.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illegal_prime>

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kyllo
I didn't know about that... that is insane. DRM has gone too far.

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shared4you
Same discussion on another thread (currently on HN frontpage):
<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5455869>

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betterunix
Thank God, we can finally implement cryptography without worrying about being
sued! Well probably not. Or something. All software is math anyway, but I
doubt that courts will care about that detail.

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eof
If all software is math, and math is speech(?), does it make sense to put
software under "copyright" instead of patents?

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pmikesell
As somebody who my name on a bunch of software patents - software should not
be patentable either.

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ferrantim
Awesome. Thanks RedHat and Rackspace for standing up to patent trolls and
defending the true innovators.

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hsmyers
It occurs to me that what is needed is a possibly grass roots level approach
to the patent problem. If ever there was a good use of the Rico Act this would
be the one. And know I'm not a lawyer but how is PT (patent trolling) any
different from the mob activities that Rico was designed to help eliminate.
This would among other things allow asset forfeiture before the fact---
something that would be particularly satisfying in this instance :) Just
sayin/daydreamin ...

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misnome
> And know I'm not a lawyer but how is PT (patent trolling) any different from
> the mob activities that Rico was designed to help eliminate

Patent trolling doesn't generally kill people or traffic drugs.

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jfoutz
Diverting resources to fend off million dollar lawsuits certainly could kill
people. It's not only interfering with defendants, but the court system must
also redirect resources away from other activities to handle these cases.

If nothing else, hundreds of thousands of hours of effort go into cases like
these. Patent reform wouldn't necessarily save a single life, but it would
clearly save hundreds of hours of life for thousands of people.

Of course, none of that above relates to RICO

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meanJim
How does Uniloc honestly sustain itself as a business?

