Being in the software development industry professionally, I find the current state of patents in the U.S. simply awful. In software development it seems that everyone is out to make a quick buck by strong arming other businesses with laws that were not designed to be a commodity. While this is America and we are all about the mighty dollar, I think that this is simply an out of date system that needs to be revamped based on today's material and intellectual state.
Creating a company that simply takes patents out on everything under the sun, only to stick it to companies that actually try to product progressive and innovative technology, is criminal. I understand the need for patents for some things but there is a line.
Companies would argue that the only way to stay competitive is to prevent their competitors from being able to build the same products as them. To the consumer this causes us to not look at the quality of products but rather the features of products. This was not the intent of patents. I would suggest that companies start making quality products rather than elbowing out specific features from competitors.
There is an article at businesses Online that covers this issue that is a good read. Their quote of TJ puts the whole article in perspective.
A man "has a right to use his knife to cut his meat, a fork to hold it; may a patentee take from him the right to combine their use on the same subject?" -- Thomas Jefferson
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_02/b3966086.htm
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New litigation-driven businesses in the technology fields are fueling the Lawyer culture. Patents leave a wonderful grey area that stimulates endless arguing and debate over such already established topics as the meaning of the word “is”. Who benefits from a six year jury trial conflict to the tune of $10 million? I can tell you it’s not either of the businesses involved.
Maybe that’s why my cousin the patent attorney is retiring and moving to Colorado. And he’s two years younger than me.
The court case of the century is now about to unfold with a major decision pending by the Supreme Court as to how Patent litigation is to be resolved. I wonder what a group of Lawyers is going to say about this. Thank the stars we don’t allow the appointment of any non-lawyers to the Supreme Court. They would be patently unqualified. [Sarcasm dripping]
Something that the lawyer culture has ripped from our American society is the idea of common sense.
It is obvious that a company that "takes patents out on everything under the sun" is just profiteering. Sure everyone has a right to earn a buck, but we as a society can decided that certain activities cannot be profited on legally. Drug-dealing is an obvious example.
That company's lawyer will say that it's activities are perfectly legal, but that does not mean we as a society have to continue to accept it. I hope that when this topic is resolved by the courts they they take more than just the law into account and also look at how this activity is a bane to progress in our society.
Perhaps we should start a culture war. A war against the lawyer culture. Not a war against lawyers specificly, every lawyer I have personally met has been "good people," but a war against a culture that says that what ever crazy theory a lawyer comes up with has to be followed because it is in the law.
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