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I absolutely love VideoLAN's stance regarding patents
(lemmy.dbzer0.com)
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this post was submitted on 21 Dec 2023
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You can patent things made with software, just not the software algorithms themselves.
Also, funny you should mention drugs...
I understand that it's possible, but I don't understand why, legally speaking, a distinction is made. US courts don't seem to know either as they use the same argument that you gave (software is math), except they allow complicated software to be patented.
Crucially, the article mentions that drug patents would still be strongly enforced in the EU, Japan, and the US. It's great that India is making drugs more accessible, but I don't see how it's relevant to the differences in hardware and software for patentability.
You don't understand why the law distinguishes between a piece of digital art and Photoshop itself? Come on, dude.
What it means is that ultimately it's all politically and commercially motivated. If a country wants to make it possible to patent something they'll do it, even if it's nonsense (software) or cruel and exploitative (drugs).