Google’s Brin Wants to Ban Patent Trolls

Posted by richrobinson 11 years, 2 months ago to The Gulch: General
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There are problems with the patent system but I don't want this guy in charge of fixing it.

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  • Posted by Hiraghm 11 years, 2 months ago in reply to this comment.
    " A patent is a license to sue; it's a government-granted right to a time-limited monopoly, enforcable by the courts.

    If the courts show a consistent record of enforcing that monopoly, a consisten record of validating the concept of patents, protecting the inventor, the tendency to violate a patent will be small. But if the courts show an acute disinterest in protecting the inventor's rights, if they usually disallow patents brought before them, patent-violators have little reason to worry, and a strong temptation to violate the inventor's patent.

    The record of the United States courts over the last two decades indicates that an inventor can, generally, expect his patent to be invalidated if it is brought to trial. Bringing it to trial is extremely expensive, and offers little probability of eventual reward.

    The result is that patents aren't of much value to individuals; only large, well-heeled corporations can afford to use the pressure of legal harassment to make their patents work."
    - John W. Campbell, "Hyperdemocracy"
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  • Posted by dbhalling 11 years, 2 months ago
    This is a crony capitalist piece of legislation that Google wants so that they can steal the inventions of startups and individual inventors with impunity. They already pushed through a huge "patent reform" bill in just 2011 that had huge give aways to Wall Street, Big Pharma, and large companies generally.
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  • Posted by khalling 11 years, 2 months ago in reply to this comment.
    it has been tabled for this yer. it raises its ugly head most years. Multi-nationals want to stomp competition. It is essentially anti-capitalist. Rand would have been an out-spoken critic of such legislation. Anti-John Galt.
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  • Posted by richrobinson 11 years, 2 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Thats crazy. I get tired of legislation being named the opposite of what it would accomplish. Wonder what chance it has to pass?
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