ESP Wiki is looking for moderators and active contributors!
Computer plus software as new machine
One method to used to circumvent the limits of software patentability, is to claim not "software" but "software and a computer". The goal is to present one non-innovative object (the computer) and one non-patentable object (the software) and get a patent on the combination. The argument made is that, when the software is put on the computer, the computer becomes a "new machine".
One example of this logic being rejected by the US CAFC (appeals court), is the in re Alappat decision, which said:
- "As the player piano playing new music is not the stuff of patent law, neither is the mathematics that is Alappat’s “rasterizer.”"