Quote:
Originally Posted by b0rsuk
Copyright is a monopoly to sell literary works or software. (Note how software has it funny - it's affected by both)
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Software is licensed, not sold -- a highly important legal distinction that nobody except lawyers cares about.
And until the late '80s, software was considered unpatentable -- which is why software producers went the copyright/licensing route to protect their products. Throughout the '90s, an expansionist Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, which was specifically created to deal with patent cases, began systematically allowing, then expanding, patents on software, creating the patent mess that exists in the US today. Fortunately, it looks like CAFC is getting tired of being overturned (often unanimously) by the USSC, and has taken a more conservative turn; viz., the Bilski case. Thereby, throwing into turmoil the whole patent mess it created in the first place.