Software Patents Prevent Free Expression Online

An article in The Hill, Software patents preventing free expression online explores questions of possible monopoly on concepts for software, analysing the importance of a concurring opinion written last week by Judge Mayer in the Federal Circuit court (the US court that hears patent appeals cases). Mayer opined that software (and the Internet) are widely-used tools for expression, and declared that they are they are ‘essential channels of scientific, economic, and political discourse.’ The article goes on to support more protections for ‘innovation and freedom of expression online’.