March 7th, 2005
EU to head down the patent rathole?
OK, with a headline like that, you’re probably saying I’m anti-patent. I’m not. All I know is that the system is broken. Seriously broken. On the one extreme, patents on software and business processes are getting awarded left and right via a process that’s dubious at best — one that does little more than clog up courtrooms and progress on technology.
On the other extreme, you have inventors like Dave Winer. Here’s a guy who has almost single-handedly turned all of software and the Internet on their ears with XML-based RPCs over HTTP while also turning all of the media world upside down with his work on RSS. Two revolutions that needed to happen and maybe a third on the way (OPML). One man (with some help). No credit (that’s just bad form, folks). He, like some other modern day software Edisons such as Tim Bray (co-inventor of XML), collects nothing directly off these inventions. (He is a stakeholder in Userland. whose solutions are inbred with these technologies.) If he did, he’d be richer than Bill (so would Bray). Instead, he can draw comfort from the satisfaction of watching unencumbered technologies flourish beyond anybody’s wildest dreams the way most useful technologies (the Web for example) should, but can’t thanks to patents.
Is there anything in between these two extremes?
With a much stronger inclination (as a continent) to open source than those of us across the pond, Europe has clearly had the benefit of watching how software patents can: stifle innovation, become a huge source of controversy, entrap millions of people in proprietary technology (with no easy exits), and drive up the cost of technology through royalties rackets.
So now, at the same time that nothing is being done to address the problem in the U.S. (and I really mean nothing), Europe apparently feels it’s ready to jump into the fire. Not only does it remain to be seen whether Europe can somehow manage a problem that we here in the U.S. cannot (it’s not you, Europe; the problem may just not be manageable), but in the course of doing so it will almost certainly come up with something that’s different enough so as to turn the global technology scene into more of a mess than it already is. Even before Europe took this baby step towards allowing software patents, there were plenty of horror stories about how managing patents on a global level was impossible for both licensors and licensees and the only people who were laughing all the way to the bank were the patent lawyers (win or lose, by the way). I can’t wait until the aliens show up. Then what? What court has jurisdiction? See what I mean?
Again, I’m not yet sure I agree with those who vehemently oppose patents (though I could be swayed). But what I am saying is that independently coming up with another approach instead of dealing with software patents on a more global level is a huge mistake. Brace yourselves. It’s going to get a lot worse before it gets easier.
