Patently Broken
I don't always agree with John Dvorak, but I do in this case:
Yes, it is. And here's the money shot:
Nothing I can add to that. Just go read the entire article.
Anyone who doesn't think the patent process is broken and needs discarding should try and explain Monday's disruptive patent news. Microsoft sold 650 patents to Facebook for $550 million from a cache of around 900 patents that it just bought from AOL for $1 billion.
In the process, Microsoft has non-exclusive rights to the same patents, as well as non-exclusive rights to 300 other patents retained by AOL. This comes on the heels of Yahoo filing a suit against Facebook over 10 patents it owns. Facebook filed a countersuit alleging that Yahoo violated 10 of Facebook's patents.
Meanwhile, Yahoo and Microsoft are in bed together since their recent agreement. If Facebook is going to leverage the new patents it obtained, can Microsoft help its buddy Yahoo with the patents it still holds or the ones it is sharing?
This is ludicrous, especially when you consider the fact that these patents are not real inventions but complex ideas written out as a process. The patents involve things such as "photo-tagging" and "online recommendations."
What sort of patents does AOL own, anyway? This is all junk and everyone knows it.
Yes, it is. And here's the money shot:
The patent process was supposed to protect the small inventor from being exploited by large corporations. Today, it has exactly the opposite effect.
Nothing I can add to that. Just go read the entire article.
posted by Jar(egg)head at 16:48
1 Comments:
Not to mention that so many companies have an "intellectual property" addendum in your hiring process that states that they own any idea you come up with while working for them. Even if it is something unrelated and you worked on at home.
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