Patent macros?

[bkelly]

To All,

I locked horns and lost big time with someone who thinks that macros to import data and chart it are patentable. I was not given time to prepare my position.
1. Is it common to use macros to import data and build charts?
2. Would it be uncommon to put the import and chart functions together in a set?
3. Is there someone with some legal knowledge on patents and macros who can weigh in here?

 

[SydneyGeek]

I guess anything is patentable if you can satisfy the criteria. I'm no lawyer but I did work in a industry once where those around me were trying to get their IP patented. As I remember you had to be able to show, among other things, that your invention:

1. Was not obvious
2. Had no prior art, ie: It hadn't been published previously. Once you publish something it's in the public domain; if that precedes your lodging, the patent claim could be invalid.

There are most likely other criteria and they will vary depending on the jurisdiction; US and European patent requirements differ in some important respects.

As for whether or not you can patent some code, I guess people will try. I wouldn't have thought that importing data and then analysing it would be incredibly novel, but the author of the code would be within their rights to get cranky if you used their code without acknowledgment or permission. That's copyright, rather than patent...

Denis

 

[Macropod]

Hi folks,

I doubt that macros are patentable - unless they truly do amount to an invention along the lines Denis suggested - but any code you develop is protected by copyright. I wouldn't have thought either of the tasks you describe would be patentable, whether in isolation or combination - they're all pretty standard stuff and the web is prelete with examples.

Cheers