What if you could pay for some kind of insurance product to protect against patent lawsuits? Or perhaps some kind of co-operative that owned a bunch of bullshit patents to be used for defensive purposes in such a scenario?
Heh. Programmers' malpractice insurance. The premiums would be ridiculous, though.
>Or perhaps some kind of co-operative that owned a bunch of bullshit patents to be used for defensive purposes in such a scenario?
That's more or less the shitck Intellectual Ventures uses to justify that they're not patent trolls (they point it out in TFA). In the podcast they point out that their need for a good ROI doesn't allow them to sit idle.
How do you defend against patent trolls, though? It's not like they make anything that can be infringed on.
Maybe here's a valid, easy-to-swallow change to the patent system - everytime a patent changes hands you halve the amount of time it is valid for.
Nice idea!
> It's not like they make anything that can be infringed on.
Or, require the patent holder to prove 'damages'. Since they don't make anything and don't actually use their patents there are no damages lost.