The ideas and intellectual work which go into creating computer software are protected by copyright law, just as books, magazine articles, movies and music have been for many years. Modern software patents are mostly held by corporations, and are quickly becoming instruments for corporate legal battles rather than protections for inventors. Furthermore, they are a serious legal and technical impediment to open-source software we all depend on to keep the applications on our computers and the internet healthy and stable. Finally, computer software has become so complex and understood by so few as to render software patents virtually unenforceable by those who seek to adjudicate the lawsuits filling up our court system. Software patents need to go away.
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