Martin Goetz - Received First Software Patent

Martin Goetz joined the computer industry in the mid-1950s as a programmer. He and several other partners started the company Applied Data Research, and here, he received the first U.S. patent for software. The patent was for data-sorting software for mainframes. Before his patent, software was not seen as a patentable product. Goetz had been fighting for a patent for three years before finally receiving one. His system is believed to have been the first software product to be sold commercially.

Goetz attended City College of New York and received his bachelor’s in business statistics and a master’s in business administration eight years later. After graduation, he worked as a supervisor analyzing radio ratings. He then became a programmer at Remington Rand’s Univac division, learning how to program the Univac. After four years, he joined IBM, but didn’t stay long. In 1959, he and his partners started their company and it became a leader in the software industry.

Goetz was inducted into the Mainframe Hall of Fame and is called the “father of third-party software.” He continued to write into his 90s about software patentability and the need for protection for software. He passed on October 10, 2023.

Read his full obituary here.

View U.S. Patent 3380029 here.