Should software be patented? This site would like the practice stopped

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No, no, a thousand times no

Let's put it this way. I'm a small software innovator. And I do mean innovator: I'm on my fourth startup, and every one of them has been in the business of producing stuff that is genuinely new and different. That's where the fun is in this business -- if you're not trying to change the world, you shouldn't be in a startup.

Along the way, patents have been omnipresent. I have to admit, I've got my name on a few, and I've written more that didn't get submitted for one reason or another. That's part of how the game is currently played: you *have* to play the patent game, purely for defense. If you don't play the game, you're living in constant danger. (My new company, which is unfunded and bootstrapped, is simply going to have to live dangerously: I don't have the time or money for this nonsense. I don't like that risk, but I don't have a choice.)

So I'm viewing this from the inside. I'm one of the people who the system is supposed to be *for*: the true innovator, the ones who it is supposed to encourage and protect. And let me assure you, it's not worth the damned price.

The only people who have really benefited from software patents are trolls and giants. The small innovators simply get screwed by them -- losing money and focus playing the game, while still not having the resources to benefit from it. The only small companies that really profit from patents are the ones that are focused on that, and devote their resources to it. In other words, the unproductive bottom-feeders.

I say, get rid of 'em. Let software companies compete strictly on the basis of innovation and execution, the way we did before the bad decision to apply patents to software. (Which, let's remember, is still a relatively recent change in the grand scheme of things.) That's a game I'm much more prepared to play...

Posted by: jducoeur   Posted on: 02/29/08 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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