



They obviously took this to heart, and started patenting every damn thing they came up with -- "innovative" or not.





Now they've finally received what they were looking for -- damages for copying (what are essentially) ideas.





True innovation is always an incremental improvement on existing technology.









obsolete, a patent that can last up to 20 years just doesn't make sense. However, in a world where 6-month old technology is considered, a patent that can last up to





Now, with my project management startup, PMRobot , I have to consider the huge, impending risk that a large incumbent has a patent "war chest" they're sitting on, just waiting to unleash it as soon as one of their competitors are successful.







Build a massive paper trail and file as many "defensive" patents as I can, as insurance. Estimate and factor in a possible "patent tax" to future financial projections. Close my eyes, cross my fingers, and hope this insanity ends. I really hope the Apple decision gets overturned, and we start cleaning up this whole software patent mess What are my options as a small startup?

As a technologist, the recent Apple vs. Samsung lawsuit isI was hoping all of this software patent nonsense would go away, but Apple just proved that the new business model is more aboutthanAs a company that essentially "stole" the entire desktop GUI and mouse concept from Xerox, you have to wonder how they arrived here.Ironically, this concept was subsequently "re-stolen" by Microsoft to create Windows -- one of thepieces of software ever.Naturally, Apple sued Microsoft in 1988 , a long and bitter lawsuit that wasn't resolved until 1994, whenIn the midst of this, Apple was actually sued by Xerox , a suit that was dismissed.In the Apple vs. Microsoft ruling, the court stated: