[Nottingham] Google Gets Umbrella Patent For Cloud Operating Systems

Jason Irwin jasonirwin73 at gmail.com
Tue Sep 4 11:15:48 UTC 2012


On 04/09/12 11:06, Martin wrote:
> Worse still, you also have the industry of "Patent Trolls" and legal
> extortion... ("Pay us a fee so that we promise not to threaten you with
> our patents portfolio that we know you 'obviously' infringe but can't
> disclose which ones...")
This is just another issue with the patents system (and possibly the
legal system).  There are various measures that could be used to solve
it, all with their own problems.
e.g. have the plaintiff pay if their suit fails?  But this still leaves
the minnow needing to fund a defence.
or
Have the plaintiff pay during the suit, and the defence pay if the
plaintiff wins?  But this could leave a minnow unable to pursue a breach
or
Have no fees paid to lawyers until the case is decided?

Patents do have their use, but it all seems to go a bit pear shaped when
we start using them for software and for business practices.  Maybe they
just need chucked out, or maybe there should be a fourth way (but I
would have through copyright was good enough for software).

J.



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