Red Hat speaks out against software patents

Red Hat has filed a statement with the US Supreme Court in which the company speaks out against the patentability of software. The court is currently considering a case involving this.

Nearly a year ago, a federal appeals court ruled that a method of doing business could not be patented. The case was brought by Bernard Bilski and Rand Warsaw, who wanted to patent a financial construction to be able to buy or sell energy at fixed prices based on the expected weather in a certain season. The patent office refused to grant this, so Bilski and Warsaw went to court. The judges rejected the claim, saying that a patent should relate to a device or machine, or a transformation of things.

The ruling didn’t immediately affect software patents, as they can relate to a transformation of data, but it did raise the bar. Bilski and Warsaw then went to the Supreme Court, which announced in June this year that it would hear the case. The case is eagerly awaited by all concerned, as the Supreme Court may now make a clear ruling on software patentability.

Red Hat has now filed a statement with the Supreme Court, asking the judges to ban the patenting of software. In the statement, chief executive Rob Tiller said: “This proliferation of patents has not encouraged innovation in the software industry, but has seriously hampered it. Under the federal judges’ previous erroneous approach, continuing with a new software product has always involved risk. from a multimillion-dollar lawsuit, as well as damages that could be tripled, or a sales ban that could kill a company. Only those willing to take a lot of risk will enter such a market.”