🚀 go-pugleaf

My letter to the Patent and Trade Office went out at lunchtime today.
The thrust of my comments was not only that ideas and algorithms should
not be patentable, but also that _interfaces_ should not be patentable.
I cited the example of DEC's "BI" bus, which forced competitors to
abandon the DEC add-on board market in favor of lousy-performing Ethernet
interfaces.  Other examples of interfaces are GUIs, data file storage
formats, network protocols, command languages, and programming languages.
In general, the concept of "interface", whether for human or machine
use, should not be patentable or copyrightable.

I also made a distinction between "significant" text and artwork vs.
"look and feel" for purposes of copyright infringement claims.  A
box, menu, or shading on a screen simply should not be copyrightable,
let alone patentable.

I urge others to make these points to the PTO.

-rich