Reply #91: maybe I misunderstood your post... [View All]

"Large company realizes liability and patents the world (Microsoft, Intel, and Cisco don't make money off patent suits). Small company feels baricaded by the large companies patent portfolio."

barricade - to defend, fortify, or entrench a force around a strategic position in battle.

I can name many successful companies in Atlanta which failed to patent new technology, and after a few lawsuits began to patent every product they developed. This began after the patent office changed in the eighties. Patents were once only issued if the product was beneficial to the public and was in someway unique or original. Later the patent office became self-financed, the only way to bring in money for their office after Reagans funding cuts..was by charging fees for every patent. Most of my friends agree this was the beginning of a new dark age in technology.

Again I don't buy the argument that any company should have a monopoly on anything for over ten years. This reduces the incentive to develop new technology, and artifically inflates prices of old technology!