Why You Should File Software Patents

This is in response to the 2000-01-17 Scripting News comment about how maybe UserLand should start filing software patents.

Date:	Mon, 17 Jan 2000 11:44:59 -0500 (EST)
From:	Kragen <kragen@pobox.com>
To:	dave@scripting.com
Subject:	Re: patents

I think you should start filing patents. Here's why:

1. You don't have to be a scumbag and actually use them aggressively.
2. You'll have a defense against scumbag companies like Amazon and IBM if they try to sue you --- you can sue them back and settle by cross-licensing. Even before that, your company's expertise in patents will come in handy evaluating threatened suits.
3. Every month, someone comes up with the idea to develop a `patent pool' that would sue companies like Amazon and IBM into oblivion, using hundreds of thousands of patents belonging to their members. One of these days, someone is going to actually do it. (Maybe you and Larry Ellison should have lunch about it.) If the good guys don't own any strategic patents when this happens, it will be ineffective.