Software Patents
For a long while, software was actually excluded from being patentable. The reason being, at its most basic core, software is built from underlying mathematical algorithms. Laws of nature, natural phenomena, and abstract ideas cannot be patented. Since math is universally considered to be a fact of nature, it is deemed non-patentable, and by extension, software fell under that same thinking. Beliefs changed in 1981 when the Supreme Court held that software-related inventions are not to be excluded from patent protection. Software relies on math to guide its operation; more specifically, mathematical algorithms have a functional application in computer programs, and, as such, software is protected under the Patent Act.
