Intel Moving to Block IA-64 Cloning via Patents Patents10/30/2000; 1:03:03 PM ...'Rather than submit garden-variety claims to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), Intel is trying to patent the functions carried out by specific instructions.'This is great for my essay; I've been writing about how software patents should be banned for trying to patent speech... now here's a company trying the root concepts of a language. (Technically, they aren't trying to patent the "words" of the language, but they are trying to patent the concepts the words convey, or in CPUs, the actions the words cause to happen.) Perhaps Paramount (the owners of Star Trek) should patent some Klingon... there's some unique concepts in that language (like exactly what "honor" is).Update: Apparently, this is common and has been for decades. It still shares one of the same basic problems as software patents... how many ways are there to quickly load data off of the main bus, for instance? Not really that many.Also see this slashdot comment.