Software Patents are Self-Defeating

http://blog.datamules.com/blog/2012/02/13/software-patents-are-self-defeating/

by ktr • 14 years ago

22 24 14 years ago

blog.datamules.com

Interesting read. I also believe that software patents reduce your own flexibility in work. If you spend the time and money to patent your software, you won't be changing it any time soon, even if you eventually discover that there is a better way to design your product.

rbarooah• 14 years ago

Why wouldn't you just patent the new method and even further raise the barrier to entry for competitors?

anamax2• 14 years ago

> If you spend the time and money to patent your software, you won't be changing it any time soon, even if you eventually discover that there is a better way to design your product.

How does that follow?

It certainly isn't true with physical device patents, like automatic transmission mechanisms, so why would software be any different?

monochromatic9• 14 years ago

I stopped reading here:

> I doubt whether our software could be patented anyway, but if you can patent a [linked list](http://www.google.com/patents/US7028023), perhaps it could be after all

If this guy knows so little about patents that he thinks the title of that patent defines what it protects, and apparently has not even looked at the claims, then why should I listen to his opinion about them?

mancaus• 14 years ago

The claims are very closely aligned with the title.

Claim 1 - Linked list with two traversal orders Claim 2 - Linked list with three traversal orders Claim 3 - Method of traversing the lists in claim 1 and 2 Claim 4 - A device (computer) to traverse the lists in claim 1 and 2

monochromatic9• 14 years ago

What is claimed is very clearly not just a standard linked list. We can argue about whether this patent should have been granted, and whether its claims are invalid... but there can be no dispute about whether this person has "patented a [scratch that, the] linked list."

rtperson5• 14 years ago

> In the end, I doubt owning a patent on something will have any impact on our ultimate success or failure.

How I wish that were the case. Unfortunately, there are hundreds of patent trolls out there that would love to use their patents to extract value from your company. When the trolls come knocking (and they will), having a patent of your own may literally be the only defense.

Everyone who wants to understand just how incredibly corrupt the US patent system is needs to do themselves a favor and listen to the "When Patents Attack" episode of NPR's This American Life. Then you'll understand why neatly-reasoned arguments are, in this instance, entirely besides the point.

monochromatic9• 14 years ago

Patent trolls are by definition non-practicing entities. How does having your own patent defend against them, if they're not actually producing anything that would infringe it?

rtperson5• 14 years ago

Again, the error you're making is mistaking patent law with the insane way patent law is actually enforced. Listen to "When Patents Attack," and you'll understand that non-practicing entities have been very successful lately in filling their pockets at the expense of the genuinely productive.

Patents are also not supposed to overlap each other. However -- and again this was made startlingly clear by NPR -- they do, and by the tens of thousands.

You're making the mistake of believing yourself to be in a world where reasonableness prevails.

Software Patents are Self-Defeating

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