more details for patents

resources/readings/IP.md

@@ -13,7 +13,13 @@ The most common mechanisms used for protecting intellectual property are:
 
 ***Trade secrets*** are a mechanism to protect information by keeping it from being publicly disclosed. These are commonly protected using confidentiality agreements and can last for as long as the secret itself is protected from disclosure. Programs are often protected as trade secrets, and it has been established that releasing the compiled version of a program is not considered disclosure of the underlying source code.
 
-***Patents*** are state-conferred specific rights that are used to protect inventions. These provide the inventor the exclusive rights to profit from an invention for a set period of time (20 years). Inventions must be novel, non-obvious, and useful in order to be eligible for patenting. Establishing patents is a long and expensive process, as demonstrating novelty against all prior patents and prior disclosed work and non-obviousness requires the support of IP professionals.
+***Patents*** are state-conferred specific rights that are used to protect inventions. These provide the inventor the exclusive rights to profit from an invention for a set period of time. Inventions must be novel, non-obvious, and useful in order to be eligible for patenting. 
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+Patenting software is challenging: software is considered an *abstract idea* that cannot usually be patented. To be eligible for protection, the inventor needs to demonstrate that the software being patented represents a specific novel implementation of the invention, rather than a straightforward application of the abstract idea. Additionally, the provisions that an invention be novel and non-obvious are often difficult to establish for software-based systems as it can be hard to demonstrate these core properties.
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+Establishing patents is a long and expensive process, as demonstrating novelty against all prior patents and prior disclosed work and non-obviousness requires the support of IP professionals. In Canada, patent protection lasts for 20 years and is granted by the Canadian Intellectual Property Office. 
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+Software-based patents are not without controversy: while some proponents argue that patenting allows innovators to protect their expensive intellectual investments, and are therefore incentivized to make those investments. Detractors believe that patents in such a fast-moving field can induce advantages that cannot be overcome in the long term as by the time the patent has expired, the patentors have established themselves such that they cannot be competed with. Balancing these two concerns is a central concern for all IP legislation.
 
 ***Licenses*** are used in conjunction with the options above to enable IP to be monetized without releasing ownership of the underlying protected material.