Why would a startup not do this (aside from wanting to be a greedy patent troll?)?
No seriously, if I have a startup that cares about my employees, is there any real reason to not do this?
No seriously, if I have a startup that cares about my employees, is there any real reason to not do this?
I could see investors having a problem with this.
During the hiring process, lots of employers are already giving candidates verbal assurances that their patents will only be enforced defensively. Now, software engineers have a practical way to demand that they make these assurances binding. Employers who fail to do so will have a much tougher time explaining themselves.
I'm probably going to start requiring this of any employers that I work for in the future.
But for hardware or biotech startups? Licensing patents is oftentimes a startup's business model. And licensing doesn't work if people can use technology without paying (which would be the case with a purely defensive patent).
A much cheaper defensive measure is to publish your "inventions". There are companies that help you with that, e.g. ip.com.
This whole document is rather bizarre.