Software patents: Letter of Donald Knuth

[Paul Rubin]

Gerrit Muller <gerrit.muller at philips.com> writes:
> | Thanks for the pointer. It is unfortunate, however that he sent it to
> | the USPTO. The U.S. Patents and Trademark office does not make policy
> | decisions like what is and is not patentable. This is the territory of
> | Congress and the U.S. courts. 

That letter was written in response to a PTO request for advice about
whether to issue software patents.  They also held some public
hearings where people could speak on the subject.  Most of the
comments opposed software patents.  The PTO summary of course ignored
most of these.  It's always easier if you know before you ask the
question, what conclusion you want to reach.