Software Patents Must be Eliminated :: Argumentative Persuasive Essays

software programme Patents Must be EliminatedSoftware bares threaten to devastate Americas computer industry. Patents granted in the past ex are now being used to attack companies such as the Lotus Development Corporation for selling programs that they bring in independently developed. in short new companies will often be barred from the software arena--most major programs will require licenses for dozens of patents, and this will make them infeasible. This problem has precisely one solution software patents must be eliminated. The Patent system of rules and Computer ProgramsThe framers of the United States Constitution established the patent system so that inventors would have an incentive to share their inventions with the general public. In exchange for divulging an invention, the patent grants the inventor a 17 year monopoly on its use. The patent toter can license others to use the invention, but whitethorn also balk to do so. Independent reinvention of the same techni que by others does not contain them the right to use it. Patents do not do by specific systems instead, they go forward peculiar(a) techniques that can be used to build systems, or particular features that systems can offer. Once a technique or feature is patented, it may not be used in a system without the allowance of the patent-holder--even if it is implemented in a different way. Since a computer program typically uses mevery techniques and provides many features, it can infringe many patents at once. Until latterly, patents were not used in the software field. Software developers copyrighted mortal programs or made them trade secrets. Copyright was traditionally understood to rachis the implementation details of a particular program it did not cover the features of the program, or the general methods used. And trade secrecy, by definition, could not prohibit any development work by someone who did not know the secret. On this basis, software development was extremely pr ofitable, and received considerable investment, without any bar on independent software development. But this scheme of things is no more. A change in U.S. government policy in the early 1980s steamy a flood of applications. Now many have been approved, and the rate is accelerating. some(prenominal) programmers are unaware of the change and do not appreciate the order of magnitude of its effects. Today the lawsuits are just beginning. Absurd PatentsThe Patent Office and the courts have had a difficult time with computer software. The Patent Office refused until recently to hire Computer Science graduates as examiners, and in any lawsuit does not offer competitive salaries for the field.