|
Home > Software News:
|
Watch News Feed
Bestsellers Software
|
(I-SoftwareNews.Com, August 24, 2012 ) San Francisco, CA -- On August 20 2012, Google suggested that it might be time to get rid of our current patent system, particularly in the area of software.
Google’s public policy director, Pablo Chavez, says that they are taking a look at the current patent system to determine if the current system is really the right system to create innovation and promote consumer-friendly policies.
Chavez responded to a question from Rick (Lane News Corp.'s senior vice president of government affairs), stating that Google doesn’t believe that patent wars are helpful to consumers, innovation, or the marketplace.
Chavez’s remarks were made at the Technology Policy Institute’s conference. Google, based in Mountain View California, is enmeshed in several legal actions surrounding software patents. They’ve won one court battle against Oracle; another one, involving Apple, is still pending.
Software patents are becoming increasingly controversial in technology circles for two main reasons. The first reason is known as ‘patent trolls’ which are people or organizations who enforce patents against one or more alleged infringers in a manner considered aggressive or opportunistic. Most patent trolls have no intention to manufacture or market the patented invention; they just want to keep others from being able to do so.
The second reason is that there are some concerns about the quality of patents that are being granted by the US Patent Office. Technology innovators point to the mixed quality of these patents as a reason for scrapping the entire system of granting software patents, and starting over again.
In April of this year, Twitter announced a kind of Hippocratic Oath for tech companies, saying that its patents would only be used for defensive purposes -- not to block rivals from innovating.
This is not the first time that Google has questioned the usefulness of software patents. Last summer, they said that the patent process ‘gummed up the process of innovation.’ They’ve also signed a brief presented to the US Supreme Court in 2009 arguing the following:
“The recent surge in patents on abstract ideas such as how to run a business or software that merely implements such methods have not promoted innovation in the financial services or information technology fields -- to the contrary, such patents create a drag on innovation.”
This brief was also signed by Morgan Stanley, Metlife, Bank of America, and several other prominent companies.
Chavez feels that the major problems lie in the differences between typical patents (such as medical patents) and software patents. There are significant structural differences between the medical industry and the software industry, and Google feels that the differences should be addressed in the patent process.
For his part, Lane accused Google of acting in an anti-competitive manner with the recent counteraction filed by Motorola (a Google subsidiary) against Apple. This counteraction could endanger the imports of iOS devices. News Corp also blames Google for their efforts to stop SOPA (the Stop Online Piracy Act) earlier this year, saying that Google did more than any other company to derail the acceptance of SOPA.
Lane says that if content providers acted similarly to the Motorola/Apple battle all heck would break loose, and that they would be accused of stifling innovation and protecting old business models. He questions why software patents and other patents deserve different treatment in the marketplace OR by the US Patent Office.
About RankFirst.com.au:
As the name suggests, RankFirst.com.au (http://www.rankfirst.com.au) offers competitive SEO services in Melbourne, which can help your site to be ranked at top in search engine rankings. Rank First does not believe in any unnecessary long term contracts and phrase limits.
RankFirst.Com.Au
Devon Kier Walters
4158903496
contact@RankFirst.com.au
Source: EmailWire.Com 
Source: EmailWire.com
|
|
|
|
|
I-SoftwareNews.Com Sponsors
|
|
|
|
|
