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I’ll give a contrary view point to most “patent trolls”. I’m an inventor (100+ Issued patents), I develop POCs and concepts well beyond my ability to productio

I’ll give a contrary view point to most “patent trolls”. I’m an inventor (100+ Issued patents), I develop POCs and concepts well beyond my ability to productionize. That’s not to say I couldnt create a product, just that I don’t have the resources. However, I do have the resources to develop novel techniques. Does that mean I didn’t invent the process- no, I did invent a new process. I just didn’t build them into a product. You know what? Apple is also inventing things and has a plethora of patents. Further, I 100% guarantee they did a patent search and knew of this patent prior to releasing their product(s). While I don’t think patent trolling is necessarily fair, I don’t think saying “poor old Apple” for having to pay for someone else’s invention is fair either. Do I think patent law needs reform? Yes. Right after copyright, which can be extended decades/a century after publication. That being said, this is the game. Play by the rules while you’re in it.

speedgoose 6y ago
How can you invent so many things?
- deleted 6y ago
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breck 6y ago
Human slavery was also the game until 150 years ago. Patents and copyright are immoral, or the word immoral has no meaning. Don’t play immoral games. Think from first principles.
- dlivingston 6y ago
  To start, human slavery was certainly not abolished 150 years ago...[0] [0]: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_in_the_21st_century https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_in_the_21st_century
viraptor 6y ago
> I 100% guarantee they did a patent search and knew of this patent prior to releasing their product No, you don't. You guess that and it's good for your business if you assume that companies do the search and that searching is feasible.
opportune 6y ago
Are you actually inventing things or just filing a bunch of patents?
- saagarjha 6y ago
  I guess you can decide for yourself: https://patents.google.com/?inventor=Austin+Walters https://patents.google.com/?inventor=Austin+Walters
  - viraptor 6y ago
    I can't judge a lot of them, but a few from familiar territory are basically spam - shower thoughts turned into long technical descriptions. For example https://patents.google.com/patent/US20200137020A1/en https://patents.google.com/patent/US20200137020A1/en is a joke which should've never been granted.
    - BrandoElFollito 6y ago
      I had a look at the link. I do not really understand what it does (I work in IT, many years as a sysadmin) but it suspiciously looks like my code on a day I thought I had a revolutionary idea. Then a few weeks later I have to look at it again and try to rediscover that revolutionary idea while the family is waiting for the lights to work again.
      - viraptor 6y ago
        > I do not really understand what it does It's basically: query the database for the list of nodes, then tell the LB which of those nodes you want to send traffic to. Something you come up with in 5min if you ever need it.
        BrandoElFollito 6y ago
        Well, yes, that I more or less understood - but why? The LB does this already, it is its role to know what to send where under which conditions.
DecoPerson 6y ago
Every software company in the world violates dozens to thousands of patents. If we all properly “played by the rules,” we’d be paralyzed by patents. No software could exist without a patent licensing team (internal or external), the overheads of which would make many ventures not worthwhile to pursue. Often you’d need to pay twice or more for the same concept, because most patents are vague and overlap with others. The combined patent licensing fees & terms would be crippling. Software businesses (and others) currently exist at the mercy of patent-rights holders. As soon as they grow fat enough, the ROI on suing them makes it worthwhile. The case of PMC vs YouTube is a representative example. The US patent system, as it is now, does not make the world a better place. It stifles innovation, where it should be fostering it. Copyright, on the other hand, is much harder to violate. A software company can do business with much less fear of unknowingly breaching copyright. The copyright discussion is sufficiently different and unrelated to the patent discussion that raising it as an argument seems a little whataboutery.
- dt3ft 6y ago
  Fully agree. It's a total mess and it needs a major reform. It's also a by-design unfair system only for the rich - as those with ideas (especially in 3rd world countries) don't have the resources to file for patents. It really makes my blood boil.
mnadkvlb 6y ago
You dont have to publish them, keep them secret !! go sell your work as a secret if your work is so important, why do you have to publish it and then litigate anyone else who comes up with a similar techniques.
- lelanthran 6y ago
  > You dont have to publish them, keep them secret !! go sell your work as a secret if your work is so important, why do you have to publish it and then litigate anyone else who comes up with a similar techniques. Because if you simply keep it secret then the people who patented it after they independently came up with it can sue YOU! The lesser evil is to put it into the public domain; then no one can patent it and no one can sue you either.
  - djohnston 6y ago
    So why not do that? You're just creating minefields for people actually improving things. You won't get sued for having a shower thought and not doing anything with it.
  - lettergram 6y ago
    There’s a lot of hate in this thread, but this is the gist. When you use a concept you have to patent it today. It’s unfortunate, but it’s reality. You can ignore patents out there, and later they will sue you (if your successful). And take a slice of your revenue. If you have a lot of patents (like the big players). You then cross license and you’re good. Do I think patent law needs reform, absolutely. It’s insane. Do I think you have to play the game - yes or you’re equally insane.
joemullin 6y ago
The "invention" is DRM. You think Apple read this patent and said "a-ha, that's how you do it?"

speedgoose 6y ago

How can you invent so many things?

deleted 6y ago
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breck 6y ago

Human slavery was also the game until 150 years ago. Patents and copyright are immoral, or the word immoral has no meaning. Don’t play immoral games. Think from first principles.

dlivingston 6y ago
To start, human slavery was certainly not abolished 150 years ago...[0] [0]: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_in_the_21st_century https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_in_the_21st_century

viraptor 6y ago

> I 100% guarantee they did a patent search and knew of this patent prior to releasing their product No, you don't. You guess that and it's good for your business if you assume that companies do the search and that searching is feasible.

opportune 6y ago

Are you actually inventing things or just filing a bunch of patents?

saagarjha 6y ago
I guess you can decide for yourself: https://patents.google.com/?inventor=Austin+Walters https://patents.google.com/?inventor=Austin+Walters
- viraptor 6y ago
  I can't judge a lot of them, but a few from familiar territory are basically spam - shower thoughts turned into long technical descriptions. For example https://patents.google.com/patent/US20200137020A1/en https://patents.google.com/patent/US20200137020A1/en is a joke which should've never been granted.
  - BrandoElFollito 6y ago
    I had a look at the link. I do not really understand what it does (I work in IT, many years as a sysadmin) but it suspiciously looks like my code on a day I thought I had a revolutionary idea. Then a few weeks later I have to look at it again and try to rediscover that revolutionary idea while the family is waiting for the lights to work again.
    - viraptor 6y ago
      > I do not really understand what it does It's basically: query the database for the list of nodes, then tell the LB which of those nodes you want to send traffic to. Something you come up with in 5min if you ever need it.
      - BrandoElFollito 6y ago
        Well, yes, that I more or less understood - but why? The LB does this already, it is its role to know what to send where under which conditions.

DecoPerson 6y ago

Every software company in the world violates dozens to thousands of patents. If we all properly “played by the rules,” we’d be paralyzed by patents. No software could exist without a patent licensing team (internal or external), the overheads of which would make many ventures not worthwhile to pursue. Often you’d need to pay twice or more for the same concept, because most patents are vague and overlap with others. The combined patent licensing fees & terms would be crippling. Software businesses (and others) currently exist at the mercy of patent-rights holders. As soon as they grow fat enough, the ROI on suing them makes it worthwhile. The case of PMC vs YouTube is a representative example. The US patent system, as it is now, does not make the world a better place. It stifles innovation, where it should be fostering it. Copyright, on the other hand, is much harder to violate. A software company can do business with much less fear of unknowingly breaching copyright. The copyright discussion is sufficiently different and unrelated to the patent discussion that raising it as an argument seems a little whataboutery.

dt3ft 6y ago
Fully agree. It's a total mess and it needs a major reform. It's also a by-design unfair system only for the rich - as those with ideas (especially in 3rd world countries) don't have the resources to file for patents. It really makes my blood boil.

mnadkvlb 6y ago

You dont have to publish them, keep them secret !! go sell your work as a secret if your work is so important, why do you have to publish it and then litigate anyone else who comes up with a similar techniques.

lelanthran 6y ago
> You dont have to publish them, keep them secret !! go sell your work as a secret if your work is so important, why do you have to publish it and then litigate anyone else who comes up with a similar techniques. Because if you simply keep it secret then the people who patented it after they independently came up with it can sue YOU! The lesser evil is to put it into the public domain; then no one can patent it and no one can sue you either.
- djohnston 6y ago
  So why not do that? You're just creating minefields for people actually improving things. You won't get sued for having a shower thought and not doing anything with it.
- lettergram 6y ago
  There’s a lot of hate in this thread, but this is the gist. When you use a concept you have to patent it today. It’s unfortunate, but it’s reality. You can ignore patents out there, and later they will sue you (if your successful). And take a slice of your revenue. If you have a lot of patents (like the big players). You then cross license and you’re good. Do I think patent law needs reform, absolutely. It’s insane. Do I think you have to play the game - yes or you’re equally insane.

joemullin 6y ago

The "invention" is DRM. You think Apple read this patent and said "a-ha, that's how you do it?"