4 ms·
If an unlimited use license is $10, it's not worth the patent owner's time to write a letter asking for the license fee. My impression is that many of the idea
by jedbrown 14y ago
If an unlimited use license is $10, it's not worth the patent owner's time to write a letter asking for the license fee.
My impression is that many of the ideas covered by software patents are independently "discovered" by each entity that happens to use them. The patent is now inhibiting innovation by dwelling on an old idea that is apparently not so novel after all.
- jballanc 14y ago> If an unlimited use license is $10, it's not worth the patent owner's time to write a letter asking for the license fee. I guess that's kind of the point. Patents only inhibit innovation when they can be used as a cudgel to force inventors into paying exorbitant fees. If fees are inversely proportional to the proliferation of patents in an area, the natural incentive is to only patent that which is important.