Patents are one of the forms of legal protection offered by the government for intellectual property, “creations of the mind: inventions; literary and artistic works; and symbols, names and images used in commerce” as defined by What is Intellectual Property. Later in the presentation, the World Intellectual Property Organization defines a patent as exactly “an exclusive right granted for an invention – a product or process that provides a new way of doing something, or that offers a new technical solution to a problem.” Patents came about as a way to “provide incentives to individuals” by “recognizing their creativity and offering the possibility of material reward.” The main concept behind the idea is that it gives an inventor the sole right to market and sell their new machine or mechanism for a limited period of time.
In my opinion, patents do have positive benefits for society. I don’t feel that they are strictly necessary, but patents do allow someone who has spent a large amount of their time and/or wealth coming up with a new and useful invention to receive the benefit of having made it. Without any type of patent law as soon as a new invention comes about, large companies or an inventor’s competitors could build the new design and leave the original creator without a reward for their work. Patents do have the ability to be abused in a manner that can hinder innovation, but the incentives it provides to honest inventors is worth having to deal with some negative consequences.
Despite being, generally, in favor of patents being awarded for inventions, I believe that they have no place in software creations. In the article Analysis: Microsoft’s Software Patent Flip-Flop, Bill Gates warns “that the patent system was a major threat to [Microsoft].” It continues that “Gates directed readers” to an article for “more details on the problems with software patents.” That article has the quote “‘sotware patents threaten to devastate America’s computer industry'” (League for Programming Freedom). Due to the nature of how software works, the ability to create a patent on an “invention” such as a sorting function can have ramifications for years to come. All software is built upon the ideas of older software; without the ideas that provide the basic building blocks that even elementary level software programming students use, there would be little to no software products and solutions. Backing up that reasoning, ArsTechnica article on Microsoft later includes the fact that “there are now so many software patents on the books that every non-trivial software product infringes numerous patents.”
One of the largest issues that has arisen with the dawn on the computer age and the exponential growth of computing technology is the issue of “patent trolls.” Ira Glass in a This American Life episode transcript gives the definition of a patent troll as “‘Companies that make no products, but go around suing other companies that do make products over supposed patent infringement.'” Patent trolls regularly stockpile seemingly innocuous patents then force larger companies into settlements or lengthy court battles over supposed violations. In my opinion, this is very much a symptom of a broken system. When you have an industry in which 90% of “high-tech patent suits […] are filed by ‘non-practicing entities'” (ArsTechnica article Patent troll lawsuits head toward all-time high), it is a clear indication of litigation abuse.
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