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Considering Walker is described as a heavy patent holder, I'm not sure his enthusiasm for the wonders of patents are entirely objective. Is he concerned here wi

by gsg 12y ago

Considering Walker is described as a heavy patent holder, I'm not sure his enthusiasm for the wonders of patents are entirely objective. Is he concerned here with informing his audience or the value of his holdings? > it will be aimed at smaller and mid-sized businesses that need a low-cost way to mitigate their infringement risk. It will also offer universities and other smaller patent owners a way to finally earn some revenue from their inventions Maybe I'm cynical, but "mitigate their infringement risk" sounds like a euphemism for "pay Walker a bunch of money or get taken to court".

cubano 12y ago
Maybe I'm cynical, but... Yes, you are cynical, but, perhaps unfortunately, you are probably correct. While the need to create some sort of modded-out system to allow interested parties a way to really examine what's in the db almost surely exists, I, too, wonder of what value it would ultimately be. It's often difficult enough in business to crack the money-making side of it, and adding the large administrative and financial burdens of dealing with onerous patent restrictions sure doesn't help.
unreal37 12y ago
He says he's the founder of priceline.com and 11th on the list of living patent holders. Good for him. Sure, it's not objective, but there's no such thing as unbiased opinion. It sounds like he thinks one problem with the current system is that, even if you do use a patent as it's intended (license it properly), you can still get taken to court by someone else for infringing on their similar patent. Using patents is like walking across a minefield. Small businesses just do not (and should not) play in the patent game because of legal risk. If his company provides insurance that using their patents protect you against liability against violating other patents, it sounds like a great idea. Like the "anti-patent troll". Like how some app developers are being sued for using some feature of Apple's SDK. [1] Imagine if Apple provided free insurance against all such lawsuits. [1] http://www.macstories.net/news/lodsys-starts-filing-lawsuit-against-app-developers/ http://www.macstories.net/news/lodsys-starts-filing-lawsuit-...

by gsg 12y ago

cubano 12y ago

Maybe I'm cynical, but... Yes, you are cynical, but, perhaps unfortunately, you are probably correct. While the need to create some sort of modded-out system to allow interested parties a way to really examine what's in the db almost surely exists, I, too, wonder of what value it would ultimately be. It's often difficult enough in business to crack the money-making side of it, and adding the large administrative and financial burdens of dealing with onerous patent restrictions sure doesn't help.

unreal37 12y ago

He says he's the founder of priceline.com and 11th on the list of living patent holders. Good for him. Sure, it's not objective, but there's no such thing as unbiased opinion. It sounds like he thinks one problem with the current system is that, even if you do use a patent as it's intended (license it properly), you can still get taken to court by someone else for infringing on their similar patent. Using patents is like walking across a minefield. Small businesses just do not (and should not) play in the patent game because of legal risk. If his company provides insurance that using their patents protect you against liability against violating other patents, it sounds like a great idea. Like the "anti-patent troll". Like how some app developers are being sued for using some feature of Apple's SDK. [1] Imagine if Apple provided free insurance against all such lawsuits. [1] http://www.macstories.net/news/lodsys-starts-filing-lawsuit-against-app-developers/ http://www.macstories.net/news/lodsys-starts-filing-lawsuit-...