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Comment by hedora | Hacker News Reader

It has been. All sides have a pile of patents. All sides violate all the other sides’ patents. If anyone sues, everyone goes out of business.

This is the system working as currently intended. No matter what happens, the lawyers get will rich.

If a small company comes in and doesn’t pay the lawyers, it’ll get sued for violating the patents.

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Yep, it's an area denial weapon.

You basically cannot do anything worthwhile in this space without violating someone's patents. It's beneficial patent and corporate lawyers, but it's detrimental to innovation. As an engineer you are asked to not look up existing techniques or designs as this will taint you legally.

"Tainting" isn't a thing in patent law. All engineers worldwide are tainted the moment the patent is published; that's why parallel reinvention is not a defense to patent infringement.

But you pay triple damages if you knowingly vs unknowingly violate a patent (35 U.S.C. § 284). Of course, everything is patented, so, engineers are just told to not read patents.

Mutually assured destruction

Where do patent-trolls fit in this analogy?

They’re the backstreet gangs that rob single missile silos from failing states and ransom you.

> If a small company comes in and doesn’t pay the lawyers, it’ll get sued for violating the patents.

This assumes the small company isn't just in it for the patents.

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