The Internet, of course. That has not yet bubbled up to the surface and been a hot topic like domain names. And domain names, too, promise to remain a sticky subject with the courts. There isn't yet a clear answer. I can't predict how those two processes will end up telling us about what the term means.
Patent law represents another brainteaser for policy makers.
Software and methods of doing business were not patentable until the mid-1990s, when the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office hired its first computer scientists to serve as patent examiners, Post said. Before granting patents, examiners must determine that the applications represent something new and innovative, or nonobvious. Meanwhile, they are turning out thousands and thousands of patents. Post offered an example of the slippery slope the Patent Office is attempting to traverse. Suppose you have a recipe for a chocolate cake, and you want to patent it.