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Patents weren't always this way.
Mark Pilgrim is ashamed of having filed a patent when he was at IBM:
My name is on a software patent. It happened during my brief tenure at IBM. The patent is not yet issued (as I understand it, issuance may take years) and does not show up in USPTO or Google Patent Search. But it will, someday.[...]
Later I really did quit, but only after I secured another job, and not because of patents. I’m told that once the patent is issued, I’ll get another $500, even though I don’t work for IBM anymore. Issuance takes anywhere from 2 to 7 years. By then, IBM will have filed tens of thousands more. It’s an institutionalized form of madness, outrageous, all-consuming, and incurable. I’m ashamed to have been a part of it.
My name is on several patents. I'm not ashamed. We created great technology and then we filed patents for it.
Patents weren't always used by patent trolls to shakedown competitors. Most legitimate companies, including mine at the time, build patent portfolios to barter with if they were accused of patent infringement. We would get to use the other company's technology, and they would get to use some of ours. Simple. No litigation. No multi-million dollar royalties. No threats. And therefore no shame.
Of course I never expected a reputable company like Microsoft to become a patent troll. So I guess there is a danger in the patents I created. But that seems to be the last resort of a dying company, one that is afraid of its inability to compete on a level playing field.
Has Microsoft really sunk that far? And does that mean than any company could descend to that level?
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