3 ms·
"If you own a software patent, you should feel bad." You might think its "just for defense" and have the best of intentions, but like landmines and toxic waste
by noonespecial 14y ago
"If you own a software patent, you should feel bad." You might think its "just for defense" and have the best of intentions, but like landmines and toxic waste, the patent will almost certainly outlive your use for it and wind up in hands other than your own.
So there it is:
Patents are like the toxic waste of innovation. You promise yourself to keep them safely contained, but its hard to do in the real world and once they spill, they contaminate everything around them, making the ground uninhabitable for 20 odd years.
Feel bad.
- Heinleinian 14y agoPresumably there's some kind of legal construct that could act as a poison pill. i.e. some kind of contract that says "if this patent is used for [insert evil purposes here], it is immediately converted to GPL." Also, I refuse to lump defensive patent holders in with organizations like shell-corporation patent trolls or Intellectual Ventures. From what I can tell, IV isn't even bothering to try and execute on ideas they come up with. They simply brainstorm, apply for the patent based on the idea vapors, and then go after anyone who is putting in the blood and sweat to try and actually build it.
- Produce 14y agoI think that a better analogy is thinking of patents as nuclear weapons. What we need at this point is a disarmament treaty.
- Kronopath 14y agoWhat about a patent under something like Twitter's Innovator's Patent Agreement? http://blog.twitter.com/2012/04/introducing-innovators-patent-agreement.html http://blog.twitter.com/2012/04/introducing-innovators-paten...