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Opinion: The problem with software patents? They don't scale

Posted by BernardSwiss on · 2 comments
Ars Technica; By Timothy B. Lee and Christina Mulligan
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Nathan Myhrvold, the Microsoft veteran who founded the patent-trolling giant Intellectual Ventures, loves to complain about the "culture of intentionally infringing patents" in the software industry. "You have a set of people who are used to getting something for free," he told Business Week in 2006. Myhrvold is right that patent infringement is rampant among software firms. But in demanding that this infringement stop, Myhrvold isn't just declaring war on what he regards as Silicon Valley's patent-hostile culture. He's declaring war on the laws of mathematics. The legal research required for all software-producing firms to stop infringing patents would cost more than the entire revenue of the software industry. Even if firms were willing to pay the bill, there simply aren't enough patent lawyers to do the work. Firms infringe software patents because they don't have any other choice.

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Comments (2)

According to my computer, Myhrvold is supposed to be spelled Voldemort.

So now I have to decide whether that should be corrected...

Sigh. Decisions, decisions....
How would I spell him? Avada Kedavra. You can't reason with mad dogs.

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