The first software patent recipient passed away at the age of 93. He fought for intellectual property protection for software

The man who owned the first software patent in the world has passed away.

His name is Martin Alvin Goetz, known as the "Father of Third-Party Software."

He liberated software from the "bundled sales" of hardware, founded the first software product company, and developed the first commercial software product.

Software that was once not protected by any intellectual property law, with his hard arguments, not only became a patentable product, but also developed a huge business empire .

Now according to Statista data, the global software market revenue in 2022 has reached 610 billion.

According to the New York Times, he died of leukemia at home on October 10, 2023, at the age of 93.

△Picture source Martin Gertz’s family

Some netizens expressed their condolences:

He is a true pioneer in the software industry.

So, what achievements did he make in his life? Lets come look.

The world's first software patent

The most eye-catching achievement of Martin Alvin Goetz (hereinafter referred to as Goetz) is to obtain the first software patent.

At the time, software was not considered a patentable product.

In comparison, it is more like a type of accessory that is "bundled" on a one-to-one basis. It is sold by hardware companies such as IBM together with mainframe computers, but without paying an additional price. .

This means that the software itself is not protected by intellectual property laws, and hardware companies can use it however they want, and there is no commercial value at all.

As a programmer, Gertz's job is to develop software.

After another "eureka" moment when he came up with a more advanced algorithm, he realized that this method should be patented.

This is an algorithm for sorting data, mainly used for data classification tasks in computer data processing systems.

At that time, many computers were still using tapes for storage, which were tape data recorders.

This component is usually used to store records to be classified and is also an intermediate task of data classification. The ultimate goal is to generate a series of sorted records on one or more data recorders and tape storage units.

Getz optimized this type of algorithm and shortened the program execution time by more than half.

He tried to submit the first version of the patent on April 9, 1965. However, for a long time, the application was not approved.

It wasn’t until April 23, 1968, that Gertz was finally granted a U.S. patent number. He once admitted in an interview:

By 1968, I was already working on “software patentability.” We fought hard for three years on this matter.

I know that at some point, the USPTO will recognize it.

This patent can still be found on Google Patents.

Information shows that this patent has a total of 16 pages. The first 8 pages are picture analysis of the ideas and analysis of the sorting algorithm:

The last 8 pages are text descriptions about patents.

#In fact, Gertz, who wrote this patent, was also the founder of "the first software product company".

Once founded the first software product company in the United States

Gertz was born on April 22, 1930. He received a bachelor's degree in business statistics and a master's degree in business administration from City College of the City University of New York.

In his 20s, he joined the computer industry and became a programmer.

He first worked as a supervisor at A.C. Nielsen, and then went to Remington Rand as an intern, learning how to write software for the Univac mainframe computer.

Goetz said:

I like programming. Even when I'm driving, I'm often programming in my head.

After Remington Rand merged with Sperry Corporation to form Sperry Rand, he worked for the company for four years.

He then briefly joined IBM, but soon left in 1958 and founded Applied Data Research with his friends.

Applied Data Research has built a series of its own products, including automatic flow chart software Autoflow (considered the first commercial software product), remote job submission environment Roscoe, etc., which are now also considered The first independent software vendor.

Applied Data Research went public in 1965 and was acquired by AT&T (Ameritech) in 1985 for $215 million.

Goetz continued to work at this company as CTO until 1988, and then left.

Subsequently, he was selected into the "Mainframe Hall of Fame" selected by enterprisesystemsmedia and was named the "Father of Third-Party Software."

Until his death, he continued to write articles about software patentability and the need for software patents, firmly believing that patents can protect real innovation and create value for society.

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