For inventors, patents are an essential protection against theft. But when patent trolls abuse the system by stockpiling patents and threatening lawsuits, bu...
Patents are incredibly important for inventors and creators, protecting their creations from theft and unlawful reproduction. However there is potential for abuse, particularly when widely defined patents are given in a field that develops so quickly and in unexpected ways. If patent protection is abused, it creates a chilling effect, stifling innovation and creating monopolies which can deter individuals form innovating an inventing. This potential for abuse was even recognised by Bill Gates:
While Microsoft may have become more litigious surrounding their IP rights in recent years, the same fears regarding the granting of software patents remains. While the current protection for computer programs, namely copyright, provides less rights and is weaker than a patent due to the requirements for infringement (namely one would have to copy the code directly in order to infringe) the alternative is a system similar to the US approach, where patent trolls can bring lawsuits on the basis of widely defined patents, from companies that do nothing with said patents except for bringing lawsuit against corporations which create technology that is even tangentially related to the patent description in the hopes of shaking them down. All done in the knowledge that the company will settle out of court because it isn’t worth the time and money necessary to defend it.