What Are Software Patents?
We want to first outline what we mean by software patents. The argument over the directive revolves around the question of whether or not we should be able to patent physical inventions that use software–such as a traffic light system–and whether or not we should be able to patent software itself. Most anti-patent groups accept that the former should be patentable, while the latter shouldn’t. If it were, then inventions such as the progress bar would be patentable. Patents were originally introduced to protect concrete and physical inventions. Any type of state protectionism is a contract between the creator and society, under which society abridges certain freedoms in return for increased productivity through financial compensation. Specifically, patent law gives inventors an exclusive right to new technology for 20 years in return for publication of the technology’s specifications and for use of the technology in the monopolist’s products. So, if allowing patents wouldn’t lead to i
