Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Patents

I believe wholeheartedly that the patent system needs reform.

However, barring that, what would happen if there were a company whose business model was to serve as a deterrent to patent lawsuits?

Let's say that patents are like nuclear weapons. If one company threatens another with these, that company is probably going to capitulate, often at the expense of overall competition in the market.
Now, let's say that there were a firm that stockpiled as many patents as possible, and was completely willing to license them out for the purpose of deterring lawsuits. Thus, Monopoly A sues Little Guy B, but the Patent Holding Firm steps in and licenses Little Guy B a whole mess of patents with which to fight back. They do this to anyone, with the main purpose of deterring frivolous lawsuits over patents.

There are probably a lot of problems with this, but I think it's an idea worth fleshing out.

2 comments:

Kati said...

I fear that this might encourage rather than deter frivolous lawsuits...
I suppose it might go either way, depending on how you organize it and how much influence certain groups of lawyers manage to accrue

Balthazar Gray said...

It would have to be in the group's charter to not sue frivolously. I mean, it could well be a failed idea because it wouldn't be able to sue patent trolls.