Software rights : how patent law transformed software development in America /
Con Díaz, Gerardo,author.
"This first comprehensive history of software patenting explores how patent law made software development the powerful industry that it is today. Historian Gerardo Con Díaz reveals how patent law has transformed the ways computing firms make, own, and profit from software. He shows that securing patent protection for computer programs has been a central concern among computer developers since the 1950s and traces how patents and copyrights became inseparable from software development in the Internet age"--
Includes bibliographical references (pages 283-342) and index.
Introduction -- Part one : Early patent protections.  Code made tangible, 1945-1954 -- From antitrust to patent law at IBM, 1950-1966 -- The myth of the non-machine, 1964-1968 -- Part two : Software, courts, and Congress. Antitrust law and software sales, 1965-1971 -- Software patents at the courts, 1961-1973 -- Remaking software copyright, 1974-1981 -- Making sense of Benson, 1976-1982 -- Part three : IP for PCs. Hobbyists and intellectual property from Altair to Apple, 1975-1981 -- Cloned computers and microchip protection, 1981-1984 -- Look, feel, and programming freedom, 1984-1995 -- Patent enforcement and software embodiment, 1986-1995 -- Software rights for a new millennium, 1993-2000 -- Conclusion.
"This first comprehensive history of software patenting explores how patent law made software development the powerful industry that it is today. Historian Gerardo Con Díaz reveals how patent law has transformed the ways computing firms make, own, and profit from software. He shows that securing patent protection for computer programs has been a central concern among computer developers since the 1950s and traces how patents and copyrights became inseparable from software development in the Internet age"--
Computer software
Patent laws and legislation
Computer software industry
Software protection
Computer software
Computer software industry
Patent laws and legislation.
Software protection