Information Security: Principles and Practices 2nd Edition by Jim Breithaupt, Mark S. Merkow

Exercise 19

The Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) resisted patenting software for years for what primary reason?

A. Software was too intangible.

B. Software was the product of scientific truth or mathematical expressions.

C. The average shelf life of software was estimated to be less than the life span of a patent (17 years).

D. It was too interconnected with the computer’s operating system.

Step 1 of 2

Software Patents

The Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) concluded that software was in essence a scientific truth and mathematical expression and hence deemed software ineligible for patents. This caused them to resist efforts to patent software.

Thus the correct option is.