July 26, 2026 — Who Owns a Quantum Algorithm?
This Sunday's think piece asks a question the IBM-HRL headlines skipped: can you actually patent a quantum algorithm? We trace the acquisition's eleven-hundred-patent haul back to the unsettled Alice-era doctrine that governs whether any quantum invention is patentable at all, and walk the sides — reformers, patent attorneys, software-patent skeptics, corporate consolidators, and China-watchers.
Linked sources: Guest Post: Patentability of Quantum Computing Inventions — The Quantum Insider
IBM to Acquire HRL Laboratories to Power the Future of Quantum — IBM Newsroom
IBM Acquires HRL…
The skinny
The skinny isn't ready yet — notes appear once the transcript is processed.