October 2nd, 2008
Perens new crusade is patent law
Bruce Perens, whose own flash of genius has done more to protect the GPL than most of us ever will, has a new crusade. (That’s not Bruce. It’s Greg Kinnear in Flash of Genius, in theaters Friday.)
Perens said in a recent interview that the current system makes it too easy for patent trolls to sue, even when their patents may be bogus.
We need to restore justice to the patent system, and we also need to take a good look at the motivation for software patents, which many economists and others feel do more to hurt innovation than to promote it.
Past attempts to reform patent law have floundered because the medical industry depends upon patents.
Drug patents and device patents are often highly specific, and the protection the law affords assures creators the funding needed to reach the market.
Software patents were not created by Congress, but by courts, at the same time as business method patents. These are often very broadly drawn, and holders use their power to tax real innovation.
What courts give, however, other courts can take away. The Blackberry case has caused even the U.S. Patent Office to protest.
Perens will not be Don Quixote this time.
But the conflict with the medical industry remains, and next year someone needs to answer this key question.
Can we have a system which protects medical inventions while discouraging patent trolls, and what would it look like?
Dana Blankenhorn has been a business journalist for 30 years, a tech freelancer since 1983. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
| 10/02/08
