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[eric stasik]

 "It's not even just about software patents. Patents on ideas are wrong, whether in software or in business. You should patent some concrete machinery, not a way of doing things."

http://www.computerweekly.com/articles/article.asp?liArticleID=135326&liArticleTypeID=1&liCategoryID=2&liChannelID=28&liFlavourID=1&sSearch=&nPage=1

Well Mr. Torvalds, you might be surprised that the US Supreme court agrees with you. Since 1852, in the case of Le Roy v. Tatham, the US Supreme court has steadfastly maintained:

“A principle, in the abstract, is a fundamental truth; an original cause; a motive; these cannot be patented, as no one can claim in either of them an exclusive right"

Patents cannot be granted on ideas and no one is agruing that this should change. The EU directive is about patents on INVENTIONS, not ideas, that meet the standard of being new, novel, and having inventive step. Moreoever, where mathematical algorithms are concerned, these inventions must have a technical effect.

It is also noteworthy that the first software patent issued in the US (Diamond v. Diehr) was granted to the Federal-Mogul company, a century old automobile parts manufacturer located in the heart of America's rust belt.

Software patents are not just about the software industry.

Stick to writing code, Linus.

[JimIvey]

I agree that Linus is not the world's foremost authority on IP law, but I'd go a little easier on him.  There are worse villians in the IP realm.

The biggest problem I have with his quotes is that he appears to be suggesting that patents should not be granted on any processes.  I just don't think that's a reasonably tenable position.

And, I have to admit that I don't know what it means to say that only inventions are patentable, not ideas.  As I understand it, ideas are patentable if they're useful, novel, non-obvious, and capable of being described in such a manner that one of ordinary skill in the art can put the idea into use.  But maybe I'm missing a nuance of the meanings of "idea" and "invention."

I think that patents and the OS community are going to be at odds for years to come.  I don't see any effective solutions even being discussed anywhere.

Oh well....