licensing software patents gpl
Advantage in being first to copyleft a new algorithm?
<p>Say I have created a new (DSP) algorithm. Will I have some advantage if I open source the algorithm under copyleft licence (GPL etc.)? From what I know about licensing this should lock people out from using the exactly same code as closed source, but would they be able to "rewrite" the algorithm as closed source?</p>

<p><strong>Note:</strong></p>

<p>I fear this may actually be two separate problems:</p>

<ol>
<li>open sourcing a known algorithm</li>
<li>open sourcing a new algorithm</li>
</ol>

<p>I don't really know if the algorithm is new but it has not been released as open source yet. Since I am from the European Union do I need to look for software patents if I wanted to copyleft it?</p>

<p>Algorithms are not subject to copyright. A particular implementation can be copyrighted, but an algorithm itself can't be copyrighted. Someone re-implementing the algorithm with their own code has done nothing to give you copyright claims against their work, and is not bound by any software license you use. That's what patents are for. </p>
