[Discuss] Self-introduction and more on software patent

[Richard Pieri]

On Sep 30, 2011, at 11:46 PM, Hsuan-Yeh Chang wrote:
> 
> As I said previously, the person knowing the rules plays the game better.

But that's not the same as playing the game well.  The difference is between understanding the patent application process and understanding the weaponizing of patent law that has happened in the last 20-odd years.  A programmer or sysadmin may have no difficulty with the former, but only patent lawyers really understand the latter specifically because it is patent lawyers doing all the weaponizing.

This is the problem.  Patents were never intended to be used as weapons.  Patent law is supposed to be a shield, a defense against infringement, not a weapon used to extort license fees from innovators.  But this is what patent lawyers have done with patent law.  This is what patent trolls do with their patent portfolios.  They don't innovate and enrich the world and profit from it.  They beat down the real innovators and line their own pockets at the world's expense.


> We should thank Disney for the recent change of copyright law for the
> extended protection.  Mickey mouse is about to enter into public domain
> under the old law.  Can you image what would happen when everyone in the
> world can copy mickey mouse without paying Disney a nickel?

We've been doing it with William Shakespeare and Johann Sebastian Bach for centuries.  Western Civilization hasn't collapsed from it that I've noticed, so I don't see how Walt Disney is entitled to special dispensation.  But you see, just like the weaponizing of patent law, this isn't about defense against infringement and enriching society.  This is about the executive board members lining their pockets at society's expense.

So.  I first blame the greedy MBAs who've lead us into this mess.  I then blame the greedy patent and copyright attorneys who helped them do it.  I finally blame the less greedy patent and copyright attorneys who did nothing to stop it.

As a capstone to all this: Disney is releasing next year a movie adaptation of "A Princess of Mars", a novel that has been in the public domain in the US for several decades.  It is such blatant hypocrisy.  Disney can profit from the late Edgar Rice Burroughs' work but nobody but Disney can profit from the late Walt Disney's work.

--Rich P.