Post #1645552
2026-04-24 11:38 UTC
whoa the merkle tree, the data structure that underlies git history, was originally... patented 😮
https://worldwide.espacenet.com/patent/search/family/022107098/publication/US4309569A?q=pn%3DUS4309569
Replies (2)
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@vanderZwan@vis.social 2026-04-24 12:12
@nasser I wonder if there's some kind of "expired software patent watch" website for cool algorithms nobody uses due to these stupid things.
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@petersibley@mastodon.social 2026-04-24 14:02
@nasser reminds me of the patents ibm had on arithmetic coding which was kind of maddening that it had been patented .