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Software patents are the problem not the answer
,----[ Quote ]
| Nathan supports this argument by comparing the
| current market for intellectual property to
| the early days of the computer industry. He
| argues that in the 1970s people did not
| believe the software industry could be an
| independent business and that it would always
| be linked to hardware. He says that software
| industry developed for two reasons. First,
| software vendors persuaded software users to
| respect intellectual property rights through
| both education and lawsuits, and second, the
| vendors overcame system incompatibilities and
| developed solutions that would work on
| different computers. Nathan suggests that a
| market for inventions would emerge if the same
| two conditions are met, and then offers his
| company Intellectual Ventures as a model for
| how to meet them.
|
| I do not agree. Here's why.
|
| Let's start with software analogy. Put aside
| the fact that in the 70's software vendors
| used copyright law to prevent the outright
| copying of their software and not patents as
| Nathan proposes to do. The real reason the
| independent software industry emerged is that
| operating systems and APIs made it possible
| for independent software vendors to develop
| applications independently. They no longer had
| to ask permission of the hardware vendors.
| This same characteristic of permissionless
| innovation led to the explosion of
| independently created services on the
| internet. The rampant abuse of the patent
| system has created the opposite condition for
| the creators of software and web services
| today.
`----
http://www.unionsquareventures.com/2010/02/software-patents-are-the-problem-not-the-answer.php
Is this just a patent troll or a new way to extract money from everybody?
,----[ Quote ]
| It doesn't sound to me like Myhrvold has much
| interest in the poor inventors. Rather, he
| just seems to want their patents so he can
| make piles of money suing manufacturers.
`----
http://www.againstmonopoly.org/index.php?perm=593056000000002612
PJ: "Like real estate? Is he kidding? After what investors/bankers/hedge
funds in real estate did to the world's economy? He wants to do that with
patents? A new way to gamble at the public's expense, as I see it."
Recent:
Nathan Myhrvold's Intellectual Ventures Using Over 1,000 Shell Companies To Hide Patent Shakedown
,----[ Quote ]
| It's no secret that we think Nathan
| Myhrvold's Intellectual Ventures is a
| dangerous, innovation harming monstrosity.
| The company used a bait and switch scheme to
| get a bunch of big tech companies to fund
| it, not realizing that they were then going
| to be targets of his shakedown system.
| Basically, IV buys up (or in some cases,
| applies for) tons of patents, and then
| demands huge cash outlays from those same
| companies (often hundreds of millions of
| dollars) for a combined promise not to sue
| over those patents and (here's the sneaky
| bit) a bit of a pyramid scheme, where those
| in early supposedly get a cut of later
| deals. Of course, to just talk to IV
| requires strict NDAs, so the details of
| these deals are kept under wraps and only
| leaked out anonymously. But the hundreds of
| millions of dollars going towards this sort
| of trolling behavior, rather than any actual
| innovation in the marketplace can be seen on
| various financial filings (you can't hide
| hundreds of millions of dollars in payments
| that easily).
`----
http://techdirt.com/articles/20100217/1853298215.shtml
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