[zamalek]

> Software patents are a scourge,

The reason is because they aren't being used as they were intended: patents are _supposed_ to be a way to give inventors/entrepreneurs a window to build a market with their idea. Let's say that you have some truly amazing invention that frobnicates foos 50x faster than anyone else, and you plan to take it to market. What would prevent the likes of Amazon from copying your idea with all the resources at their disposal? Patents.

Patents as an asset is exactly the problem. Your entire first paragraph is built on this faulted perspective - the assumption that how we actually use patents is aligned with how they were designed to be used. They are supposed to foster small businesses, not destroy them.

Software patents are a scourge only because patents as a whole have become a scourge.

[petesergeant]

> The reason is because they aren't being used as they were intended: patents are _supposed_ to be a way to give inventors/entrepreneurs a window to build a market with their idea.

If I invent something, I should surely be able to license its production if I don’t want to be in the production game myself. The alternative reduces to the absurd very quickly. If I invent a better system for making ball bearings, it’s not reasonable to say I should only benefit from it if I then personally raise the capital and experience to start a ball bearing manufacturing plant.

[Sohcahtoa82]

There's a key difference though.

If you invent a better system for making ball bearings and patent it, you could bring your system to existing manufacturers and say "I've invented a better system, would you like to license my patent and start using it to bring your costs down and productivity up?" That's fine and most people would be on board.

But a patent troll is different. They're entirely reactive. They wait for someone else to start doing something that is vaguely similar to what you patented, and then they pounce. The troll threatens legal action if they don't license the patent instead.

What patent trolls do is effectively extortion.

[zamalek]

I personally agree with this, but its more difficult to delineate. I suppose the key is that the patent is being used.