[math-fun] SCOTUS spanks patent court; abstract ideas not patentable

Hopefully, today's Supreme Court decision will have the effect of slowing down substantially the issuing of bad software patents. Simply expressing an algorithm in computer code doesn't make it patentable, unless the algorithm itself is patentable. Abstract ideas aren't patentable, so abstract ideas embedded in computer code aren't patentable. Judge Randall Rader, the ex-Chief of the patent court, already embarrassed by ethics violations, is spanked unanimously by the Supremes in today's opinion; he is leaving that court at the end of the month. http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/13pdf/13-298_7lh8.pdf http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/06/13/us-usa-court-ip-idUSKBN0EO2OO20140...