"That vendor was Red Hat, which really comes as no surprise.
With the veiled threats of software patent enforcement coming from
Redmond, and the not-so-veiled threat of any one of a number of
patent trolls getting ready to use a purchased patent to pursue
litigation, Red Hat would get a huge benefit from the elimination
of software patents. Of course, so will everyone else writing code
today.
"Here's what's happening: in 2008, the Federal appeals court
upheld a Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) ruling that Bernard
Bilski's method of risk assessment of bad weather through
commodities trading was not patent-eligible under Section 101 of
the Patent act.
"The Court made up a test to benchmark if claimed ideas like
this could actually be patentable. The idea has to either be tied
to a particular machine or apparatus or transform something into a
different state or thing. The Court stated in its ruling that this
should be the only applicable test."
