My Own Pirate Radio

Michael Crichton has a funny NYT editorial piece “This Essay Breaks the Law“. In it he talks about the absurd things patents are being granted for these days.

The question of whether basic truths of nature can be owned ought not to be confused with concerns about how we pay for biotech development, whether we will have drugs in the future, and so on. If you invent a new test, you may patent it and sell it for as much as you can, if that’s your goal. Companies can certainly own a test they have invented. But they should not own the disease itself, or the gene that causes the disease, or essential underlying facts about the disease. The distinction is not difficult, even though patent lawyers attempt to blur it.

He’s on target.

It’s equally bad in the software space: the big companies patent everything they can just to amass up a defensive portfolio; the little companies try to patent so they can look better to investors and potential acquirers, but patent filing costs too much to do it aggressively; and patent trolls try to shake down everyone with a bank account. Yuck.

Alternatives, please.