The biggest problem with software patents, at least in the US, is that they can easily be shown to be illegal (as in not supported by law, not as in you get thrown in jail for them). Our patent system allows for patents of ideas, things, of almost anything creative, but not math. Einstein didn't have the choice of patenting E=m*c^2, because math isn't patentable. Computers are nothing more than overgrown calculators. They do nothing but add, subtract, divide, and leap around from one equation to another. Thus, any program that a person writes is nothing more than a function, a system of equations, or a piecewise defined function. None of these are patentable, so obviously the software itself has nothing capable of being patented.
jain: Has anyone ever tried to
patent a
book or piece of
music? I am pretty sure that if someone tried, they would fail. That isn't the point though.
Software could probably be
copyrighted, because it is a written work. It cannot, however, be
patented because it is
math, and
math cannot be patented according to
patent office rules. Maybe I am missing your
point?