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This is great. Makes me proud to be a Rackspace customer. > While nothing short of eliminating software patents will satisfy us [...] This seems to be a surpr

by paulgb 14y ago

This is great. Makes me proud to be a Rackspace customer. > While nothing short of eliminating software patents will satisfy us [...] This seems to be a surprisingly mainstream view in the (software) tech world. I've yet to hear an argument for total abolition that addresses the impact of such a change outside of software tech realm. For all the bad the patent system does, I'm glad that medical breakthroughs are disclosed and protected (for a limited period) rather than locked up a la the Coca Cola recipe.

dripton 14y ago
Sometimes, anyway. Recall that the Canadian Supreme Court invalidated the parent on Viagra last week for failing to disclose the active ingredient.
SoftwareMaven 14y ago
And yet Coca-Cola stayed a nickel for 70 years[1]. I think going back to guilds and trade secrets isn't right, but it's not completely wrong, either. 1. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4788659 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4788659
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notatoad 14y ago
The generally held view is that software patents should be abolished, not that patents in general should be abolished. As such, the reason you don't see arguments that address the changes outside the software world is because most people are't arguing that there should be changes outside the software world.
wwwtyro 14y ago
I don't believe patents are necessary for solving this problem. The threshold pledge system [1] can solve it without involving the legal system. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Threshold_pledge_system http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Threshold_pledge_system