“In Technology Wars, Using the Patent as a Sword” - New York Times Feature

[Shlomi Fish]

Hi all,

LWN.net mentions here - http://lwn.net/Articles/518936/ - that the New York Times
published a feature against software patents:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/08/technology/patent-wars-among-tech-giants-can-stifle-competition.html?_r=0

It also gives one especially damning quote:

«
In the smartphone industry alone, according to a Stanford University
analysis, as much as $20 billion was spent on patent litigation and
patent purchases in the last two years — an amount equal to eight Mars
rover missions. Last year, for the first time, spending by Apple and
Google on patent lawsuits and unusually big-dollar patent purchases
exceeded spending on research and development of new products,
according to public filings.
»

I have not read the feature itself yet, but I believe it will be nothing new to most
people on this list.

One proponent of software patents on this list is Geoffrey, who claims it helped
protect some obscure startups against people copying their ideas. However, given
the huge and increasing spending on patent litigation, the problem of patent trolls
and the fact that “In particular, between 1987 and 1994 , software
patents issuance rose 195%, yet real company funded R&D fell by 21% in
these (software) industries while rising by 25% in industries in general.” (see
http://www.dwheeler.com/innovation/innovation.html ).

Geoffrey, would you like to change your opinion now?

Regards,

	Shlomi Fish

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