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[pisskop]

Italian Doom  NSFW, or something.

[Aklyon]

Some guy is suggesting math patents.

[Reelya]

That's not that far out from what we're already doing. Algorithms can already be patented.

Digital information can be patented, and digital information is represented as numbers, so there are many numbers which are effectively patented (e.g. you can't legally have a number in your system which just happens to encode to a jpg of mickey mouse).

[Pnx]

Technically that's a copyright, not a patent. A patent is for a device, a copyright is for a particular configuration of numbers letters or whatever is being used to convey information. Everyone has a copyright on anything they produce, as long as they can convince a court that it's an "original work".

Copyrights also last waaaayyy longer, between 70 to 120 years. And corporations have found ways to extend their current copyright claims much beyond that. It seems if you're a person you only get to pass your copyright on to someone who can then use it for a while, but if you're a corporate "person" the copyright will last basically as long as you're still using it.

[Aklyon]

Copyright is an entire mess on its own, and it doesn't really matter if its not that far out or not. Saying you can patent a piece of mathematics is like saying you own a tree in the park because even though many others have seen it, no one else said it was their tree, and now you have to ask before looking at that specific tree.

[RedKing]

Once, just once, I want to hear some beat dropper drive by shaking the land with Tchaikovsky. I could die happier after that.

Bagpipes. Just sayin.

Some brodudes pulled up blasting some obnoxious gangsta rap at a stoplight one time, as I was listening to NPR and Thistle and Shamrock (Scotch-Irish folk music show) was on. Just then, "Scotland the Brave" came on. Dial goes to 11.

EAT PIPES MOTHERFUCKERS xD

[Simmura McCrea]

Once, just once, I want to hear some beat dropper drive by shaking the land with Tchaikovsky. I could die happier after that.

Bagpipes. Just sayin.

Some brodudes pulled up blasting some obnoxious gangsta rap at a stoplight one time, as I was listening to NPR and Thistle and Shamrock (Scotch-Irish folk music show) was on. Just then, "Scotland the Brave" came on. Dial goes to 11.

EAT PIPES MOTHERFUCKERS xD

Still not as loud as actual bagpipes.

[RedKing]

Once, just once, I want to hear some beat dropper drive by shaking the land with Tchaikovsky. I could die happier after that.

Bagpipes. Just sayin.

Some brodudes pulled up blasting some obnoxious gangsta rap at a stoplight one time, as I was listening to NPR and Thistle and Shamrock (Scotch-Irish folk music show) was on. Just then, "Scotland the Brave" came on. Dial goes to 11.

EAT PIPES MOTHERFUCKERS xD

Still not as loud as actual bagpipes.

True. But I typically don't drive around town with a set of bagpipes on hand.

[Xantalos]

Copyright is an entire mess on its own, and it doesn't really matter if its not that far out or not. Saying you can patent a piece of mathematics is like saying you own a tree in the park because even though many others have seen it, no one else said it was their tree, and now you have to ask before looking at that specific tree.

I think there's a tree that owns itself in Maine.
Unrelated, but it's cool.

[Nadaka]

http://torrentfreak.com/bittorrent-s-bram-cohen-patents-revolutionary-live-streaming-protocol-130326/

this is a blatent ripoff of one of the technologies i helped develop alongside its creator and a number of other devs in my previous job back in 09.

[10ebbor10]

Patents can be discussed, right?

[Nadaka]

And the guy I worked with DID patent it, some of the diagrams are even the same. The patent was applied for in 2007 and granted on 2010.

[10ebbor10]

So the guys working at the patent office didn't bother to double check?

I can understand that, but really...

[RedKing]

So the guys working at the patent office didn't bother to double check?

I can understand that, but really...

They'd have to check against umpteen million pre-existing patents to look for similarities without an expert knowledge of the subject matter.

There are a LOT of patents. My ex-wife co-holds a couple of patents, as does my ex-father-in-law. Neither of them are inventors. It's just that when you work for a company, and find a better way to do something or improve their product, they're quick to patent the hell out of your idea. And typically the legal language in an employment contract automatically gives ownership of that patent to your company, not to you. You get credit and a little certificate with your name on it all fancy-like, but if there's any money to be made on it, it's going to the company.

[Aklyon]

The problem with patents (when people aren't suggesting ridiculous things like mathematical ones or arguing over the usefulness of software patents), is that there is about umpteen million of them. Theres only so many you can check before starting to go in circles, unless you're an expert in the subject.