The petition's author is not disclosed, but the argument that the petition raises is longstanding.

In 2009, for instance, a brief in a case that looked at the software patent issue and argued that software patents "form a minefield that slows and discourages software innovation."

Red Hat went on to explain that "because software products may involve thousands of patentable components, developers face the risk of having to defend weak but costly patent infringement lawsuits. A new class of business enterprise -- -- has developed to file lawsuits to exploit this system."

Software developers can copyright their software, preventing people from making copies of their work without authorization. A patent gives the holder the right to stop someone from making, using or selling whatever has been proclaimed in the patent, said Leigh Martinson, a patent attorney at McDermott Will & Emery in Boston.

While a copyright prevents someone from making a copy of something, it doesn't stop someone from applying a method that is a feature of a software system. The patents are applied to these methods. Patents provide companies with "a competitive advantage, and it keeps people employed," said Martinson. What's hard for the developer working out of his garage is knowing whether what they are working on has a patent, he said.