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Open Source Launches Attack on Software Patents

By Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols

“Red Hat and ESP (End Software Patents), a Free Software
Foundation project, are joining others in challenging the legal
logic used for software patents.

“The two have filed amicus curiae (friend of the court) briefs
pertaining to patenting software in a review of the Bilski case,
which is now before the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals. In this
case, according to a Red Hat blog posting by Rob Tiller, Red Hat’s
vice president and assistant general counsel for IP, ‘the appeals
court will address the issue of the boundaries of the subject
matter that may be patented. The Supreme Court has repeatedly
stated that abstract ideas and algorithms (which are the core
building blocks of computer programs) are not patentable…’

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