Prelude: Computing from Ancient Times to the Modern Era - The Technical and Social History of Software Engineering - page 23

modern patents and enforced by statute appeared in Venice in a law establishing
patents in 1474.
The first patent issued in North America was issued by the Massachusetts Gen-
eral Court in 1641 to a man named Samuel Winslow for a method of making salt.
The first federal patent law in the United States was passed on April 10, 1790, and
had the title of “An Act to Promote the Progress of Useful Arts.”
Note
The name “patent” is derived from the phrases “letters patent” and
“letters close.” The seal on letters close covered the fold and had to
be broken in order to read the letter. The seal on letters patent was
attached to the bottom of the document so it could be read with the
seal intact.
Software patents have had a very convoluted path and were sometimes barred
and more recently accepted. But there is no guarantee that software patents will
always be accepted by the U.S. Patent Office. In the 1960s, software patents were
barred and several lawsuits were filed, with the courts generally concurring that
software was not patentable.
In 1981, the U.S Supreme Court became involved in the case of Diamond vs.
Diehr and decided that, at least in special cases, software was patentable. This
forced a change of procedure in the Patent Office. But the situation remained
murky and ambiguous and largely decided on by a case-by-case basis without any
real guides or fixed rules.
In 1998 in the famous case of State Street Bank vs. Signature Financial Group ,
it was finally decided what forms of software could be patented. This case in-
volved the hub-and-spoke method of processing mutual funds. The Supreme Court
decided that business processes, including those embodied in software, were pat-
entable.
A number of other precursor inventions were also important. For example,
without transistors and integrated circuits, there would not be any portable com-
puters, embedded computers, or any types of small electronic devices that today
all use software.
The inventions that became integral parts of computers include plastic for cases
and screens, integrated circuits, transistors, graphics boards, and LED displays.