{
 "@context": "https://schema.org",
 "@type": "DefinedTerm",
 "@id": "https://wulfkaal.github.io/entities/software-patents",
 "identifier": "kaal:entity:software-patents",
 "name": "Software patents",
 "termCode": "software-patents",
 "inDefinedTermSet": {
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 },
 "author": {
  "@type": "Person",
  "name": "Wulf A. Kaal",
  "identifier": "https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0757-275X"
 },
 "dateModified": "2026-07-29",
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 "subjectOf": [
  {
   "@type": "Claim",
   "@id": "https://wulfkaal.github.io/claims/3808859-023",
   "identifier": "kaal:claim:3808859-023",
   "text": "Courts expanded software patentability without proof that it would increase innovation, and the result was that corporations filed and acquired thousands of software patents used to strategically undermine competitor projects.",
   "abstract": "What makes things worse, courts decided to increase the protections for software despite lacking proof that additional patentability of software would increase the level of innovation.",
   "citation": "Wulf A. Kaal, Decentralization – Why We Need Technology Infrastructure Upgrades (2021). SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3808859",
   "datePublished": "2021",
   "claim_type": "failure",
   "confidence": "argued",
   "is_failure_mode": true,
   "scope_conditions": [
    "United States courts, early 2000s onward"
   ],
   "source_pdf_sha256": "304ad25d43b5ecea3158e3a2ca04e6e1e3bd2958e2134e2dcefbfedf3b6f3ab7",
   "status": "current"
  },
  {
   "@type": "Claim",
   "@id": "https://wulfkaal.github.io/claims/3808859-024",
   "identifier": "kaal:claim:3808859-024",
   "text": "Expanded patentability chills open source contribution because developers fear inadvertent infringement yet typically lack the knowledge and skills to determine whether their contribution infringes an existing software patent.",
   "abstract": "As a result of the accelerating patentability of open source solutions, developers increasingly fear they could inadvertently infringe patents during the open source development process.",
   "citation": "Wulf A. Kaal, Decentralization – Why We Need Technology Infrastructure Upgrades (2021). SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3808859",
   "datePublished": "2021",
   "claim_type": "failure",
   "confidence": "argued",
   "is_failure_mode": true,
   "scope_conditions": [
    "aggravated by the mandatory attestation requirements imposed on Linux contributors in 2004"
   ],
   "source_pdf_sha256": "304ad25d43b5ecea3158e3a2ca04e6e1e3bd2958e2134e2dcefbfedf3b6f3ab7",
   "status": "current"
  }
 ],
 "description": "2 claims in the published works of Wulf A. Kaal carry the concept tag 'software-patents'. Derived node: a roster, not an adjudicated definition."
}