Quotes by Patents I think software patents are a bad idea. Many patents are given for trivial inventions. Larry Wall patents ideas thinking If you're a large corporation, you can afford to pay the money to register patents, but if you're an individual like me, you can't. Larry Wall patents money pay This does not mean that every copyright must prove its value initially. That would be a far too cumbersome system of control. But it does mean that every system or category of copyright or patent should prove its worth. Lawrence Lessig patents doe mean Monopolies are not justified by theory; they should be permitted only when justified by facts. If there is no solid basis for extending a certain monopoly protection, then we should not extend that protection. This does not mean that every copyright must prove its value initially. That would be a far too cumbersome system of control. But it does mean that every system or category of copyright or patent should prove its worth. Before the monopoly should be permitted, there must be reason to believe it will do some good -- for society, and not just for monopoly holders. Lawrence Lessig patents mean believe Software patents, in particular, are very ripe for abuse. The whole system encourages big corporations getting thousands and thousands of patents. Individuals almost never get them. Linus Torvalds corporations patents abuse My aim is: to teach you to pass from a piece of disguised nonsense to something that is patent nonsense. Ludwig Wittgenstein nonsense patents pieces If the government objects to monopoly prices for new inventions, it should stop granting patents. Ludwig von Mises new-inventions patents government We don't name God; God reveals His name to us. We don't have the right to exercise authority over God. God copyrights, He trademarks, He patents His name. Mark Driscoll patents names exercise Patent law holds us back, in every which way, shape or form. There is place for it, in physical products, in pharmaceuticals, but in software in particular, there is no place for it. Mark Cuban patents shapes law Know your stuff. Have an angle. Know how to grow business, how to develop products, have patents and an undeveloped market that could be huge. Mark Cuban patents angle stuff Now Stan and I were still working in secret at that time but, because of this development, we had to inform the University of Utah because we thought that they might need to take patent protection. Martin Fleischmann patents utah secret Our strategy in dealing with patents in Mono is the same strategy that any other software developer would take. In the event of a patent claim, we will try to find prior art to the claim of the patent. Miguel de Icaza patents trying art Every piece of software written today is likely going to infringe on someone else's patent. Miguel de Icaza patents pieces today The software patent problem is not limited to Mono. Software patents affect everyone writing software today. Miguel de Icaza patents writing today For one thing, there are many "inventions" that are not patentable. The "inventor" of the supermarket, for example, conferred great benefits on his fellowmen for which he could not charge them. Insofar as the same kind of ability is required for the one kind of invention as for the other, the existence of patents tends to divert activity to patentable inventions. Milton Friedman patents benefits example It's very hard for individual inventors to get paid. For the same reason that private equity is valuable - broadly, that's a good thing - in the case of patents, many that own them aren't in a good position to take the next step. Nathan Myhrvold patents next steps I've never filed a patent lawsuit. I hope never to file a patent lawsuit. That may be unrealistic, but it would be great if I could avoid doing it... Lawsuits are a ridiculous way to do business. Nathan Myhrvold patents would-be may In the early days of the software industry, people cared about copyright and didn't give a damn about patents - they copied each other willy-nilly. Nathan Myhrvold patents giving people Making money from enforcing patents is no more wrong than investing in preferred stock. Nathan Myhrvold investing patents making-money Microsoft, Apple, Facebook all bought huge patent portfolios to further their strategic game. They're doing what I'm doing! Nathan Myhrvold patents apples games «1234»