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IBM sues Airbnb for patent royalties

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Re: IBM sues Airbnb for patent royalties

#41

Post by vikramkr »

chrisseaton wrote: post #24
brenden2 wrote: post #12

The whole US patent system needs to either be scrapped or rebuilt. The purpose it was originally intended to be used for doesn't make sense in a world where most new technology is just software, and software is incredibly easy to copy and duplicate. Getting a software patent is mostly a matter of sneaking past the people at the USPTO, and making sure you're the first to file. These patent factories could just write c…

> where most new technology is just software Is this really true?

Biotech would beg to differ. Depends on what your definitely of most is. Number of patients? Market cap? Investment dollars? Impact? That statement really overlooks hardware innovation, biotech, energy, space, nanotech, etc

Re: IBM sues Airbnb for patent royalties

#43

Post by freejazz »

pslam wrote: post #29
brenden2 wrote: post #12

The whole US patent system needs to either be scrapped or rebuilt. The purpose it was originally intended to be used for doesn't make sense in a world where most new technology is just software, and software is incredibly easy to copy and duplicate. Getting a software patent is mostly a matter of sneaking past the people at the USPTO, and making sure you're the first to file. These patent factories could just write c…

> The purpose it was originally intended to be used for doesn't make sense in a world where most new technology is just software, and software is incredibly easy to copy and duplicate. The very first patent was to duplicate an existing process (the loom) and have a monopoly to produce it. I keep hearing this argument from patent proponents, but patents have never in their history been ostensibly for good.

The Constitution requires that Congress setup laws for both copyright and patent, for the good of the nation. Patents were always intended for the overall wellbeing of the nation. That's not to say that is what has always been achieved by the patent system, but it's not some sort of conspiracy. If anything, in history, they were always OSTENSIBLY for good, but perhaps ACTUALLY bad. So I find your statement to be A) historically and factually inaccurate B) literally incorrect given your usage of ostensibly.

Re: IBM sues Airbnb for patent royalties

#44

Post by jbay808 »

chrisseaton wrote: post #24
brenden2 wrote: post #12

The whole US patent system needs to either be scrapped or rebuilt. The purpose it was originally intended to be used for doesn't make sense in a world where most new technology is just software, and software is incredibly easy to copy and duplicate. Getting a software patent is mostly a matter of sneaking past the people at the USPTO, and making sure you're the first to file. These patent factories could just write c…

> where most new technology is just software Is this really true?

It depends on your definition of "new technology", but I would say it's almost certainly not true.

In a world where electric coffee grinders exist, and batteries exist, is a battery powered electric coffee grinder a new technology? Or just a new product. I'd say the latter.

There's certainly new software technology being produced every day, but much less than there are new software products being launched every day.

Yes this is true for other forms of technology too, but no, I don't think software alone outbalances technology being developed in all other fields combined, including materials science, semiconductor, medical, photonics, robotics, drones, power electronics, microscopy, machining, metrology, renewable energy, telecommunications, etc... I think it's just an indicator of a bubble perspective from someone who probably mostly interacts with software developers or follows software technology.

Re: IBM sues Airbnb for patent royalties

#45

Post by snarf21 »

brenden2 wrote: post #26
JackFr wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At the same time AirBNB has history, that is to say, a business model, based on ignoring laws they don't care for.

As a former employee, I don't agree with that. I know it's the prevailing sentiment on HN, but it's not the truth.

I think the opinion is that they exploit lack of laws in this area. Their business model is built to let people run essentially unlicensed hotels and rentals without those pesky restriction. They could easily prevent this but they have no interest in that. It is growth at all costs; who cares if "regular" people can't find apartments because people are buying them up as AirBNB properties. The regulations will eventually catch-up but it will take time.

Re: IBM sues Airbnb for patent royalties

#47

Post by azinman2 »

noir_lord wrote: post #21
throwaway894345 wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess I always assumed this is more or less how it worked everywhere, at least anywhere that respect intellectual property. Is this not the case? What other models are out there, and which ones work better?

EU doesn't allow software patents. The world hasn't ended so far. https://fsfe.org/campaigns/swpat/swpat.en.html for a decent overview

Too be fair, the EU also never managed to build a large scale software industry. I’m not saying this is only because of patents, but it’s not a great example to uphold.

Re: IBM sues Airbnb for patent royalties

#49

Post by Spivak »

pslam wrote: post #29
brenden2 wrote: post #12

The whole US patent system needs to either be scrapped or rebuilt. The purpose it was originally intended to be used for doesn't make sense in a world where most new technology is just software, and software is incredibly easy to copy and duplicate. Getting a software patent is mostly a matter of sneaking past the people at the USPTO, and making sure you're the first to file. These patent factories could just write c…

> The purpose it was originally intended to be used for doesn't make sense in a world where most new technology is just software, and software is incredibly easy to copy and duplicate. The very first patent was to duplicate an existing process (the loom) and have a monopoly to produce it. I keep hearing this argument from patent proponents, but patents have never in their history been ostensibly for good.

If patents had a requirement that they must be licensed under "reasonable" terms (i.e. if brought to court you can argue that the license was designed to price out or discourage competitors) then I'm totally in support of them since it's supposed to be a reward for sharing your design with the world rather than keeping it a trade secret.

Re: IBM sues Airbnb for patent royalties

#50

Post by easytiger »

noir_lord wrote: post #21
throwaway894345 wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess I always assumed this is more or less how it worked everywhere, at least anywhere that respect intellectual property. Is this not the case? What other models are out there, and which ones work better?

EU doesn't allow software patents. The world hasn't ended so far. https://fsfe.org/campaigns/swpat/swpat.en.html for a decent overview

The EU once upon a time was aggressively trying to implement them but they were canned by members . It's only a matter of time I feel before it is attempted again
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