Re: Algorithms or Copyright

[Elmer Elevator <bobmer@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

> David Mechner <mechner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> > > An algorithm is an object of science; it cannot be copyrighted.
> > Heh. No, just patented.
>
> It is new to me that a patent might apply to something else than
> mechanical tools.
>
> --
> robert jasiek

Actually the (non-technical) guy whom Clinton appointed to head the US Patent
Office started granting patents to mathematical algorithms ... and finally had to
be gently taken aside and explained the facts of life.

btw my post was never intended to suggest Go algorithms could be copyrighted ...
it offered a mechanical way of establishing strong evidence of the date of
authorship in case of a plagiarism dispute. Here the question is not "who owns
this intellectual material?" but rather, for Fost or Ing officials, for example,
"who can establish the earlier authorship of this intellectual material?"

Bob M