End Software Patents is a project formed to eliminate patents for software and other designs with no physically innovative step.

End Software Patents promotes a U.S. technology development environment which will drive innovation and growth in the global marketplace. With initial backing from the Free Software Foundation, the Public Patent Foundation, and the Software Freedom Law Center, End Software Patents hopes to attract support from the wider community of businesses, financial institutions and universities that have all been hit in recent years by lawsuits over software and business-method patents.

The organization believes that software innovation happens without government intervention. It maintains that virtually all of the technologies being used now – including the Web, email, word processors and spreadsheet programs, instant messaging, and others – were developed before software was widely viewed as patentable. Furthermore, they were originally developed by enthusiastic programmers, many of whom have formed successful business around such software, none of whom asked the government for a monopoly.