inquinity

A week ago Thursday, I spoke about software patents and intellectual property to the Twin Cities CocoaHeads developer group.  This was my first significant presentation on the topic and  I was concerned about how it would be received: developers have a very low opinion of patent law, even worse now in light of recent events regarding Lodsys and Macrosolve.  I’m delighted to say that everything went brilliantly!  In fact, one of the most active participants later admitted that he had expected to sleep through the presentation. The presentation itself went extremely well: we had a fully engaged audience, lots of questions, and provided valuable information on a difficult topic.  But more than that, I learned a great deal about presenting this topic to developers.

continue reading…

This afternoon, President Obama address some remarks to the nation.

For more complete coverage, the original article can be found at: http://www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2011/08/watch-live-obamas-latest-debt-ceiling-address/40711/

One gem which was pointed out by Article One Partners (thanks) was:

Through patent reform, we can cut the red tape that stops too many inventors and entrepreneurs from quickly turning new ideas into thriving businesses — which holds our whole economy back.

This is encouraging; well, it’s better than going unnoticed; but the truth is that national politics of full of great ideas and intentions but has a few problems in the delivery department.  (Didn’t someone once say that they road to Washington was paved with good intentions?)

It was a politician’s speech and I don’t really expect changes as a result of one sentence; but here’s the questions: How do we go about making this happen?  How do we tell Obama we appreciate the sentiment and we would like to know what he is going to do to address the issue?

Food for thought.

I read an article earlier today, “By Definition, A Defensive Patent is a Bad Patent”, http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110729/03340615311/definition-defensive-patent-is-bad-patent.shtml.

To be clear, I am a software entrepreneur; I believe in innovation, in collaboration, in sharing knowledge.  I like to think I come from the same philosophical mold as the original MIT hackers (in the original sense of the word) and I believe we are all better off when we expend our mental capital addressing meaningful and challenging problems instead of figuring out how we will protect our intellectual property.  I also grew up with the ideals of the patent system: that it was designed to protect, foster, and encourage innovation.  I have spent an astonishing amount of time trying to reconcile these viewpoints; and I have succeeded in realizing that it can’t be done.  At least, it can’t be done with today’s patent system.  So, I really understand the belief that patents are bad, evil, horrible things; that they represent the old order, the people who are willing to backstab society for their own greed.

Except that it isn’t that simple.

continue reading…

Timothy Lee’s “Disruptive economics” blog on Forbes has a post, “The Supreme Court should invalidate Software Patents”, http://blogs.forbes.com/timothylee/2011/07/28/the-supreme-court-should-invalidate-software-patents/ 

It’s a good post and I recommend reading it.  I agree with Tim’s reasoning and logic but I ultimately disagree with his conclusion.

continue reading…