This is my favorite excerpt from one of the best-crafted and even handed essays on the difficult topic of software patents, offered by Paul Graham:
When you read of big companies filing patent suits against smaller ones, it's usually a big company on the way down, grasping at straws. For example, Unisys's attempts to enforce their patent on LZW compression. When you see a big company threatening patent suits, sell. When a company starts fighting over IP, it's a sign they've lost the real battle, for users.
So true. The funny thing is, when I read this paragraph, the first thing that popped into my head wasn't Unisys or Amazon, or even patent abuse in general. It was the RIAA. The only thing more demonstrative of a business or industry going down the toilet than random suits against your competitors is random suits against your customers.
I can't wait to teach my class on Business Management and Operations again. When the IP class comes up, I have a great reading assignment for them.
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