News

Let’s Make Software Patents "Defensive Only"

May 6, 2008 /

MATR Sponsor (view all)

The MDT Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) Program encourages and supports the participation of companies owned and controlled by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals in transportation contracts.

In my quest to abolish software patents, I’ve been pondering "short term approaches" since I doubt the Supreme Court is going to wave a magic wand and make my fantasies come true anytime soon.

I’ve been hearing about something lately that bothers me a lot. More and more companies are paying engineers a bonus to file patents. Not "get patents" – simply generate patent applications. The intended consequence is an obvious one – companies get to file more patents. The unintended consequence is a particularly nasty one – lots of shitty patents get filed and the PTO has to wade through that much more garbage.

By Brad Feld

Full Post: http://www.feld.com/blog/archives/2008/05/lets_make_softw.html