---
Warning: The opinion expressed in this blogpost are often haphazardly researched on a bus while on a mobile phone. Feel free to call me out on any misinformation, or to express your own views.
---
http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/01/microsoft-turns-to-crowdsourcing-service-to-swat-away-patent-tro/?m=false
And you thought trolling was only for internet message boards. "Patent trolling" has become more and more common over the years as juries award large settlements to groups who hoarde portfolios of patents and sue companies in hopes of settlement. There are entire companies whose sole source of revenue is to buy up patents then sue companies for "infringing" on those patents (ex. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11860819/ns/business-us_business/t/patent-trolling-firms-sue-their-way-profits/)
Basically, patent trolling works this way. Companies build massive portfolios of patents on the most random and basic things. Then, they get a team of researchers to find successful products that inadvertently use their patent and sue the bejeezus out of them. Settlements can often reach millions of dollars. Recently Google bid $900 million for Nortel's patent portfolio just to protect themselves from this type of litigation.
Now I'm all up for patenting ideas and products, after all patent laws help innovation blossom, but patent trolling borders on the absurd. By the letter of the law, patent trolling is not illegal, yet common sense tells us something else. Why are companies allowed to eat into the profits of others who actually created something new and contributed to our society? The biggest problem here, however, is that patent litigation, once used to protect innovation, now instead stifles it. Who would want to create a product only to see half of their revenue go to dealing with a lawsuit?
The system is obviously broken, and I'm glad to see some reform coming about. There have been new laws discussed to cut down on those taking advantage of the system, but it just disgusts me to see that some people are so greedy that they would sacrifice technological advancement and innovaton for their own profits.
Anyway, here's my simple solution to all of this: make everything open source. Unfortunately, we don't live in a perfect world, and very much like Communism, pure open source can most likely only be achieved in theory. So until the world is perfect, watch your backs... the trolls might me coming.
In totally unrelated news, that new movie The Troll Hunter looks pretty cool. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nnoGTQRodk
And you thought trolling was only for internet message boards. "Patent trolling" has become more and more common over the years as juries award large settlements to groups who hoarde portfolios of patents and sue companies in hopes of settlement. There are entire companies whose sole source of revenue is to buy up patents then sue companies for "infringing" on those patents (ex. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11860819/ns/business-us_business/t/patent-trolling-firms-sue-their-way-profits/)
Basically, patent trolling works this way. Companies build massive portfolios of patents on the most random and basic things. Then, they get a team of researchers to find successful products that inadvertently use their patent and sue the bejeezus out of them. Settlements can often reach millions of dollars. Recently Google bid $900 million for Nortel's patent portfolio just to protect themselves from this type of litigation.
Now I'm all up for patenting ideas and products, after all patent laws help innovation blossom, but patent trolling borders on the absurd. By the letter of the law, patent trolling is not illegal, yet common sense tells us something else. Why are companies allowed to eat into the profits of others who actually created something new and contributed to our society? The biggest problem here, however, is that patent litigation, once used to protect innovation, now instead stifles it. Who would want to create a product only to see half of their revenue go to dealing with a lawsuit?
The system is obviously broken, and I'm glad to see some reform coming about. There have been new laws discussed to cut down on those taking advantage of the system, but it just disgusts me to see that some people are so greedy that they would sacrifice technological advancement and innovaton for their own profits.
Anyway, here's my simple solution to all of this: make everything open source. Unfortunately, we don't live in a perfect world, and very much like Communism, pure open source can most likely only be achieved in theory. So until the world is perfect, watch your backs... the trolls might me coming.
In totally unrelated news, that new movie The Troll Hunter looks pretty cool. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nnoGTQRodk
Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.9
