Google Tried to Patent My Work After a Job Interview

1. jorangreef ◴[30 Nov 18 10:41 UTC] No.18568143[source]▶

Software patents need to be banned.

In the interim, employee incentives (ego, bonuses) to being listed as an "inventor" while BigCompany remains the "assignee" could be ameliorated with a "Software Patent Hall of Shame" (SPHS), which would list software engineers complicit in software patents.

This would disincentivize software engineers from stealing ideas, from allowing their work to be patented, or from signing agreements which would force them to do so, since doing so would undermine their prospects with future employers, who believe in free and open software and unencumbered computer science research.

replies(3): >>18568194 #>>18568391 #>>18568891 #

2. jackvalentine ◴[30 Nov 18 10:54 UTC] No.18568194[source]▶

>>18568143 (TP) #

Is this even a software patent?

replies(1): >>18568620 #

3. monochromatic ◴[30 Nov 18 11:44 UTC] No.18568391[source]▶

>>18568143 (TP) #

This isn’t a software patent.

And anyway, lots of methods get patented. If it’s new and nonobvious, why should the fact that it runs on a computer matter?

4. jorangreef ◴[30 Nov 18 12:35 UTC] No.18568620[source]▶

>>18568194 #

No, but it's Google's love of software patents that is spilling over into everything else, like popup books.

5. perfunctory ◴[30 Nov 18 13:28 UTC] No.18568891[source]▶

>>18568143 (TP) #

Not just software patents. All patents. What makes software industry so special?

replies(2): >>18569037 #>>18569151 #

6. da_chicken ◴[30 Nov 18 13:46 UTC] No.18569037[source]▶

>>18568891 #

Software is also protected by copyright.

replies(1): >>18571979 #

7. ◴[30 Nov 18 14:04 UTC] No.18569151[source]▶

>>18568891 #

8. arfar ◴[30 Nov 18 19:42 UTC] No.18571979{3}[source]▶

>>18569037 #

Copyright only protects against actual copying. It's quite a limited right in comparison to patents. A patent can prevent others from implementing/selling/making/importing/exploiting the same invention independently created.