Software patents: beating a dead horse and other important concerns

To state the obvious, software is big business. In just two decades, software companies appeared from small start-ups and relatively insignificant divisions of computer hardware companies, and have evolved into the major businesses reported daily in the news and moving millions of dollars in the economy. The software landscape includes not just the giants of Microsoft and Computer Associates, but also dozens of medium size software firms providing applications for CD-ROM, video, entertainment, personal business software, etc. Also, hundreds of small software firms abound, and many companies which are not primarily developing and selling software have software departments for developing programs internally, or for developing software to complement a company's hardware line. Software is not just a business itself-it is very important to many businesses, especially in engineering. Software patents are well established, valuable, and of great interest to business. It is argued that the recognition of valuable software and the pursuit of available patent protection for software are thus important considerations for both engineers and companies.