Why not declare a new patent pledge [1] against hiring anyone who applied for a software patent after, say, July 1 2017? Plenty of time for notice, there are e

Why not declare a new patent pledge [1] against hiring anyone who applied for a software patent after, say, July 1 2017? Plenty of time for notice, there are enough software developers who are both smart and care enough about this issue that it shouldn't cause your hiring pool to suddenly shrink, those who keep finding justifications to apply for software patents are going to start using such a pledge to justify not applying for them, and most of all, the resulting changes for Big Tech is an excellent win-win situation for everyone concerned. Because I am guessing whatever revenue they do end up losing will be more than made up with the goodwill (and thus developer mindshare) they will accrue once they get all their employees on board. [1] http://www.paulgraham.com/patentpledge.html http://www.paulgraham.com/patentpledge.html