12th
Patents are just Nukes
There has been a lot of patent discussion today, starting with Brad from Union Square Ventures post, “We need an independent invention defense to minimize the damage of aggressive patent trolls”
Bijan’s follow on post had the best tidbit, “Trolls are just one end the spectrum. On the other end, patents also favor big companies. In 2007 IBM proudly announced they received 3000 patents for the year.”
I think the best way to look at patents is to think of them as Nukes. Every big company like IBM/ATT/GE, etc., needs to have a arsenal to protect themselves from each other. It is very rare to see the big boys sue each other over patents, because they are each stepping on the others patents, so like nukes if you fire them at someone else that has them you both die.
Enter the terrorists. The people you need to be scared of with patents are those that have one patent or “nuke” and nothing to lose, also called trolls. By not having any operating business themselves that could be infringing on someone, they are impossible to squash, so they can sue at will.
In my mind, when it comes to software patents, we just need to put in some reform that if you are not operating on the patent in a significant way then you can not sue enforce it. Like anything I am sure this would not 100% fix the problem but it would be a great start.
