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[Addiction11]

Hey,

I have an idea for a patent which I know an idea isn't patentable.  This is my problem.  Let’s just say you had the idea to post the newspaper online and no one has done this before, plus no patent is out there to do so.  How would you go about it?

Would a simple software patent protect you?  If so, you write the code to upload the data to the website and patent that?  This is the only way I can see of the idea changing into a product, or something patentable.  If this is how to go about it, I see a big problem with people being able to write completely different code that does the same thing.

To break it down:
1. Is software the only way to patent an idea like this?
2. If yes to question 1, Would any software patented that works as described protect you completely?


Any info would be very helpful.  Thank you for your time.

[MYK]

Not really clear to me what you're asking.  Might fall under "business methods".

[Wiscagent]

Let’s just say you had the idea to post the newspaper online and no one has done this before, plus no patent is out there to do so.  How would you go about it?

Is there some generalized method that is used to implement your idea?  For example:  i) scan each page of the newspaper; ii) use OCR to capture the text; iii) convert the graphics into one format and the text into another format; iv) use some method to convert columns and continued articles into separate files; v) compile the graphics and text into some kind of folder or package ...

If you can break down your idea into well defined steps, it might be a patentable invention; not just an idea.

[JimIvey]

Ideas are patentable.

There really is no "software" patent per se.  There are patents that claim computer-implemented methods.  Software can't do anything without hardware, so all such patents claim activities by computer hardware.  Whether the behavior of the computer hardware is controlled by software or built into the hardware logic is typically not specified.

There are innovations, and there are patents.  It's generally not helpful to say you want a software patent (though most of us know what you mean by that).  It's almost entirely useless to say you want a business method patent because the term is really meaningless in US patent law.  What's more helpful is saying that you want a patent for an innovation that is implemented in a computer.  And, that's what I would understand if you told me you wanted a software patent.

Regards.

[patentsusa]

To break it down:
1. Is software the only way to patent an idea like this?
2. If yes to question 1, Would any software patented that works as described protect you completely?

You do need to disclose at least one way of doing it.  You need to meet "best mode" and "enablement" requirements.  You have to disclose the best way of doing it that you know of at the time of filing.  There also has to be enough information provided to allow someone of ordinary skill in the art to make and use the invention. 

On the other hand, the patent claims are what define the scope of invention.  You want to think of broad, general steps that would be common to any process of doing this as described above by Wiscagent.