My partner Brad put up a great post on the USV blog yesterday, arguing for an independent invention defense against software patents. A while back, I had proposed an alternative, a change in how litigation works. In that post, I wrote that:
Some folks have suggested doing away with software patents altogether as a way of addressing this problem. That strikes me as too dramatic a solution as I don’t believe that all software patents are evil. For instance, if someone were to spend years and lots of money to develop a new and improved way of recognizing images then it is not clear to me why that is less worthy of patent protection than say a new machine or a new drug.
I have since then changed my view of that. After a lot of digging into what has been patented over the years in software, I am now convinced that neither a change to litigation nor an independent invention defense are sufficient.
Instead we need to hit the restart button by invalidating software patents wholesale and either not allowing them going forward or only in some incredibly restrictive form. That now puts me firmly in the camp of Brad Feld, who has a post today supporting Brad’s effort and trying to rally more investor support for fundamental reform.
Running around a lot at the moment, so expect a longer post in the future detailing the process of my conversion!
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