Difference Engine: Obituary for software patents | The Economist
▻http://www.economist.com/blogs/babbage/2013/12/difference-engine-0?fsrc=scn/tw_ec/obituary_for_software_patents
defying expectations, the House of Representatives passed (by an overwhelming majority) the Innovation Act, a bill aimed squarely at defanging so-called “#patent_trolls”. (...)
Second, the Supreme Court agreed to rule on the most contentious issue of all: namely, what inventions are actually eligible for patent protection. In particular, do the #trolls’ favourite cudgels—the ridiculously vague and overly broad business-process and software patents granted by the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) over the past decade—really qualify?