8 ms·
Intel Patents 'Multiplying Two Numbers'
- obtino 15y agoIntel's patented a variation on the Karatsuba algorithm. It hasn't simply patented 'multiplying two numbers' as stated! More info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karatsuba_algorithm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karatsuba_algorithm
- JoachimSchipper 15y agoThat said, the (original) algorithm is well-known and even novel algorithms shouldn't be patentable.
- arethuza 15y ago"even novel algorithms shouldn't be patentable" Even though I have a couple of patents to my name I am generally against software patents, sometimes I think that for genuinely novel algorithms there should be an exception (e.g. RSA encryption). However, as there is clearly no way of objectively defining what a "novel" algorithm is (i.e. there is no algorithm for it) we can't really have this exception. So yes, I would agree that algorithms should not be patentable.
- JoachimSchipper 15y agoEven if RSA really is sufficiently novel (note that it had already been discovered by a secret service four years before publication), is that really worth a 20-year monopoly?
- mattmanser 15y agoStill an algo for multiplying two numbers. Also invented by someone else (hence the name) in the 60s. Can't actually see the patent since the patent site's down.
- LiteOn 15y agoI think the article should read "numbers ranging from 1024 to 4096 [BITS]"