● 06.14.11
●● What Software Patents Bring to Society
Posted in Patents at 11:33 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: How patents on software algorithms smash progress in the field
SOFTWARE PATENTS are nothing but trouble to everyone but patent lawyers/trolls and monopolists. What is it that such patents actually bring to an industry? What about the fabric of society? Let’s look at a preliminary list:
Patent trolls abundanceIncentive to non-practising entities including patent hoardersResearchers being fenced out or faced with barriers of appropriationEU patent (unitary patent), which increases damages and scale of the patent menaceDistrust among public figures (e.g. due to software patents in the USPTO)Patent deals with Android/Linux royaltiesRemoval of features from Linux-based devices, using patentsSuppression of inclusion or development of features, e.g. ZFSReducing the speed of software development (patent reviews, surveys, licensing, etc.)Increasing uncertainty and doubt among software developers, discouraging the occupationFUD campaigns based on software patents (claiming Linux to be disrespectful or prone to litigation)Suppression of GPLv3 adoption (which impedes TiVoisation)Reduced trust in politics and politicians, who are subjected to heavy lobbying and disinformationIncreased cost of products that the public buysExcessive preoccupation/overburdening of public courts, which deal with petty patent feuds rather than real offencesEncouragement of software cartels that pool patents to make up a thicketDiscouragement of standards that have patents applying to them (including submarine patents)Derivative works de-emphasisedMisuse of taxpayers’ money (e.g. NASA auctioning of patents)Distraction from technical skills due to bureaucracy and unavoidable complexity associated with otherwise-unnecessary skillsWasted effort due to reimplementation and patent workaroundsReduced staffing of developers and increased staffing of lawyers (and patent applications-geared professionals), thus less market for programmersDecrease in the number of programming languages and frameworks (duplicity and inspiration as a violation)Syntax plurality, which puts more learning burden on developersIncreased tension and distrust between companies and respective developersDegraded access to multimedia (codec patents for the most part), impeding information access especially in developing nationsReduced interoperability and resultant inefficiencyCode and pseudo-code turned to legalese/text, harming the teaching of technical skills
Any more? Any biases noted? How can it be objectivity improved to overcome bias? █
Disclosure: from a professional point of view, I have no vested interests in patents except that they impede my work. I work in algorithms research, software development, Web development, systems administration/monitoring, and also media and fitness on the side.
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