Re: [OT] Patent protection

["Eric M. Bennett" <ericb@pobox.com>]

ethical@1of1.net wrote:

>In <19991214210854.A31727@omnifarious.mn.org>, on 12/14/99 at 10:15
>PM,
>   "Eric M. Hopper" <hopper@omnifarious.mn.org> said:
>
>|	This is one of the reasons I find patent and copyright law to be
>|somewhat disturbing, and in need of some rethinking.  What would've
>|happened if Einstein had tried to patent General Relativity, or had
>|copyrighted the formula 'E = mc^2'?
>
>Not possible.
>
>Patents are not available for "algorithms" or for discoveries as
>opposed to inventions.


What about patents on data compression algorithms, such as LZW?

--
Eric Bennett / ericb@pobox.com / emb22@cornell.edu  www.pobox.com/~ericb/
Cornell University, Department of Chemistry & Chemical Biology

I have no idea what you're talking about when you say "ask".
- Bill Gates, in his deposition for the U.S. vs. Microsoft lawsuit