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Programmers are well aware that many of the software pat... laughably obvious ideas. Yet the patent system's defende... that these ideas are nontrivial, obvious only by hindsig... surprisingly difficult to defeat them in debate. Why is ...
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Linux Today - Richard Stallman -- The Anatomy of a Trivial Patent
http://www.linuxtoday.com/news_story.php3?ltsn=2000-05-26-004-04-OP-LF

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Programmers are well aware that many of the software patents cover laughably obvious ideas. Yet the patent system's defenders often argue that these ideas are nontrivial, obvious only by hindsight. And it is surprisingly difficult to defeat them in debate. Why is that?

One reason is that any idea can be made look complex when analyzed to death. But another reason is that these trivial ideas often look quite complex as described in the patents themselves. The patent system's defenders can point to the complex description and say, "How can anything this complex be obvious?"

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<p>Programmers are well aware that many of the software patents cover laughably obvious ideas. Yet the patent system's defenders often argue that these ideas are nontrivial, obvious only by hindsight. And it is surprisingly difficult to defeat them in debate. Why is that? </p><p> One reason is that any idea can be made look complex when analyzed to death. But another reason is that these trivial ideas often look quite complex as described in the patents themselves. The patent system's defenders can point to the complex description and say, "How can anything this complex be obvious?" </p>