Why I Am Against Software Patents

“The surprise to most people isn’t that I do not believe
that software should be patentable. Given my long term interest in
and coverage of free and open source software, I’m supposed
to be at least mildly anti-establishment. It is also statistically
unlikely that I would be in favor of patents, because industry
sentiment is overwhelmingly against them at the present time (as
the author acknowledges here).

“Most expect me to argue, as has Brad Feld’s anonymous
lawyer, James Surowiecki or Red Hat, that patents are actually
counterproductive with respect to innovation. That the entire
purpose of a patent – to stimulate invention by granting the
inventor wide-reaching protections – is subverted as broad,
over-reaching patents are accumulated like mercury by competing
organizations that are unwilling, unable or both to work together
to advance markets. But while I agree with the sentiment,
that’s not why I am against software patents.

“Others expect me to assert, as did Union Square Ventures’
Brad Burnham, that software is, by its nature, different from
physical inventions and innovations. That it does not require the
same protections to stimulate invention that physical goods do. But
while I believe this to be true, this is not why I’m against
software patents.”

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