Judge Rules Mathematical Algorithms Can't Be Patented

[engine]

Hmmmm, how interesting.

How many system on the web are based upon mathematical algorithms! Plenty, i'm sure.

A federal judge has thrown out a patent claim against Rackspace, ruling that mathematical algorithms can’t be patented. The ruling in the Eastern Disrict stemmed from a 2012 complaint filed by Uniloc USA asserting that processing of floating point numbers by the Linux operating system was a patent violation.

Chief Judge Leonard Davis based the ruling on U.S. Supreme Court case law that prohibits the patenting of mathematical algorithms. According to Rackspace, this is the first reported instance in which the Eastern District of Texas has granted an early motion to dismiss finding a patent invalid because it claimed unpatentable subject matter.Judge Rules Mathematical Algorithms Can't Be Patented [techcrunch.com]

[Leosghost]

Buy that sane person a beer!

[lucy24]

A judge with a working brain? Quick, hide your copy of The Peter Principle before he gets kicked upstairs!

[graeme_p]

Good, but not good enough. The judge rules this patent is not original enough, but not that maths cannot be patented per se.

The patent seems to be insane, even by the standards of software patents:

[arstechnica.com ]

[Kendo]

An algorithm is like a shopping list. How can a shopping list be patentable?

[johnhh]

Still waiting for someone to try and patent the numbers 0 to 9, 'a method of counting using these symbols' :)