Copyleft licencing and the Patent Act

[klempie]

Simple question really. If the Patent Act excludes software programs for patentability, how does this affect copyleft licences like the various GPL derivatives? Or is this only a copyright issue covered under the Copyright Act?

 

[ponder]

Patents & copyrights are different issues, If your copyright something under a license and it's known then as far as patents are concerned someone else can't go and patent what you have published/copyrighted due to the prior art doctrine. But if you don't patent it yourself then someone else potentially could, not all countries have software patents.

 

[Arthur]

Copyright accrues automatically when you author a creative work. It does not need to be registered. However, if others use your work, it is wise to actively assert your authorship and copyright, otherwise it can be argued that though you are the original author, you had essentially abandoned any claim to copyright and the creative work has passed into the other public domain.

 

[klempie]

Thanks, guys.