Venture Capitalists Lobby Against Software Patents

ciaran_o_riordan writes "No matter which side the US Supreme Court's Bilski decision pleases, it will be just the beginning of the software patent debate in the USA — the other side will start a legislative battle. The lobbying has already begun, with venture capitalist Brad Feld arguing against software patents, mailing a copy of Patent Absurdity to 200 patent policy setters. As Feld puts it, 'Specifically, I'm hoping the film will bring you to an understanding of why patents on software are a massive tax on and retardant of innovation in the US.' The patent lawyers and big patent holders often tell us that patents are needed to secure investment, so it's interesting to see now that venture capitalists are refuting that. And Brad Feld isn't the only vocal one; there's a growing list."

Comments

Re:Absurdly obvious

[Darkness404]

Now if those little firms did not hold patents would the large companies just copy the little guy?

No, because the vast majority of patent cases are where there is little to no "innovation" or when the innovation is so generalized no one really knows what exactly they were trying to patent.

Apple, Microsoft, Google, Amazon, etc. don't go searching for patents to violate, they usually create innovations independently then pay protection money to the trolls and the small firms who sell unknown products.

Tax it

[wheeda]

Let patent owners state a value for their IP. Let them be taxed at a certain percent, say 1% per year. Allow anyone to buy the IP into the public domain for the stated price. Ideally this idea would be applied to both patents and copyright. I claim this idea as my own. I had it while taking a shower about eight years ago. Please make use of it.

Re:Tax it

[melikamp]

Aside from narrowly conceived examples where the state is low-tech and a given patent law improves the inflow of inventors and craftsmen from abroad, the public does not benefit from any kind of patent. The monopolies on the best ideas are just a tax on everyone besides the patent holders, and they do absolutely nothing good in the Internet society, where the rate of innovation is capped only by our ability to find and comprehend thousands of great new ideas arising naturally every day. This is true for software most of all, as most professional programmers know. But it is also true for other products, even as expensive-to-develop as pharmaceuticals. One glance at the costs of marketing drugs in US should be enough to convince everyone that the research would be a lot cheaper if we simply paid for it in advance, from taxes; as a bonus, the competition in manufacturing will fierce and the life-saving drugs will be available to everyone in the freaking world at the same low price. Holding on to the patents is very expensive and in most cases immoral.

Re:Bad assumption

[Jah-Wren Ryel]

They will simply steal your idea anyway, then if you try to sue them, they will keep the case tied up in court long enough for the legal costs to drive you out of business.

I know a guy (well, my niece is dating him, although I wish she wouldn't) who is a real asshole. He's made millions of dollars by taking some poor schmuck's copyrighted and/or trademarked designs & artwork and putting them on the clothes he sells. He knows what he's doing, he even brags about it. The way he's made so much money at it is that by the time the owner of a design is able to sue him and the court system finally rolls around to awarding the poor schmuck the damages, this asshole has raked in way more money than he has to pay out in damages. He'll then just turn around with a new shell company and do the same thing to some other schmuck.

The guy is in his 40s but he has a set of ethics, and general social behavior level, of a frat-boy. I see him as a paragon of modern corporate management in America today.

So, I can personally attest that what you describe happens with copyrights and trademarks, it should be no surprise it happens with patents too. Since I believe we will never rid the world of assholes like that guy, I think the only solution is to stop promoting systems that enable them in the first place.