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Squiffy On Software Patents

Squiffy  01 October 2013 14:08:40

Emergent Behaviour - Value Inversion


Now don't get me wrong I am not against "Software Patents" per se, however a look at how the ecosystem of patents in the ICT and Consumer Electronics industries is currently operating one cannot help but come to the conclusion that something is seriously broken.
The original idea behind the utility or design letters patent remains a good idea encouraging the open (patent being the Latin for open) dissemination of ideas while holding dear the protection of the inventor to earn a few bucks from his intellectual sweat. However, the current global implementation and processes that are supposed to be in place to uphold the cherished ideals of the system have become so inefficient, ineffectual, broken and abused that the system as a whole has been brought into disrepute as the harbour of choice for rapacious, immoral, exploitative, and unscrupulous people and organisations.
The degradation of the global patents system in this sector has reached such a low point that we have witnessed the emergence of new behaviours of the system, the worst of these behaviours is "Value Inversion". Value Inversion is what happens when the traded financial value (and the value that can be derived from owning) something is inversely proportional to the intrinsic value of the something. The most valuable patents to own these days are those which possibly should never have been granted in the first place or are so badly cast i.e. vague, abstract, lacking in novelty and utility that they make the perfect blunt instrument for extorting buckets of cash from anyone earning an honest dollar in the industry sector. This cash for crap modus operandi is clearly something that needs to be eliminated and it needs to be done soon before if fatally poisons the patents system for the whole sector.

How Do We Fix IT?


There are many reports available that identify the problems and suggest changes that would improve or eliminate the problems completely, what seems to be missing is a will to actually do something. Clearly what we need is a novel, non-obvious, high utility process that will galvanise politicians and practitioners into action. Suggestions welcome on a patent application!


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