I have a couple things to append to my attack on the patent system.

I must admit that the piece wasn’t well-researched.  But since I wrote it, I’ve come across some supporting materials that may interest you:

• The Patent Epidemic, a BusinessWeek report on how patent litigation is gumming up the works,
• Patents Kill, say Doctors Without Borders (a linking post, but the blog itself is worth a read too), and
• Against Intellectual Property, a well-referenced philosophical approach from the Libertarian point of view.

I will leave the subject with a thought.  Every patent enforced is a thing you aren’t allowed to make.  If you care about making things, don’t you want to see to it that you can?

The Computer Holy Wars have been raging for well over two decades now, and the debates are still going strong. But let’s take a step back; let’s ask a basic question: what makes a user go with one platform over another? User interface? Raw processing power? Stylish hardware and software? Software? Something else?

For me, the reason I am a Mac user, in its essence, has little to do with the way the computer looks. It has little to do with the processor inside, the screen size, or other raw specs. The reason I own a Mac is simple: I own it for what it lets me do, and I am reminded of this all the time. This is very much a personal preference issue, but when I see my 14-year-old nephew sit down at my iBook, start GarageBand, throw together some loops, and create a song, I am reminded why I chose the Mac. When I use iLife to create a DVD of my other nephew and niece--complete with custom music made in GarageBand and photos from my iPhoto library, I am reminded why I chose the Mac. When I use Pages or Keynote to create cool documents in…
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The patent system fosters litigation, inflates the importance of attribution, and slows the adoption of technology. We should dismantle it.

Understand, I’m more concerned for the general public than for inventors. If you use patent protection to prevent other companies from offering a product like yours, you deny consumers choice. You limit the market penetration of your innovation.  Fewer people will get their hands on it, and those who do, later than they might.

And what if the infringing products are even better than yours, or you had never brought yours to market? In that case, if you sue the companies that use your ideas, you’re being a nuisance. In fact, many companies do this: they develop something, fail or don’t bother to market it, and then live off patent suit settlements.  Does this make sense?

We should welcome any improvement to the material basis of our lifestyles, even if we get them without the inventors’ approval.  If I buy a low-cost houseware that saves me time and frustration, I will not agree that the device’s seller is wrong to offer it.

But how would it be fair, you ask, if the inventors weren’t guaranteed some kind of trust?  I…
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Whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Festivus, or all of the above (or made up your own holiday!), all of us here at DT would like to wish all our readers and their families a safe and happy holiday season. And report back with any cool goodies you get!

Peace,
The Deep Thought Staff

Ah, yes, the holidays. Everyone is traveling, this time including me. I shal be spending the next two weeks up in cold Minnesota, near Brainerd to be exact. The coldness sounds worse to me because of where I am native: Arizona.

I will be gone from tomorrow, December 23rd, and will return on January 4th. During this time, as you may have already guessed, I will be unable to post any entries to my blog. I will try to pop something good off before my departure, but I make no promises.

Happy Holidays, and have a good New Year!