Without question, the rights of creators need protecting. Whether it’s a form of copyright or patent, the inventors of the amazing things we use and enjoy every day deserve recognition and payment for their efforts. Unfortunately, our current system for protecting creators has been perverted by individuals, companies, and governments seeking perpetual exclusivity and big money pay offs. The extended protections sought are rarely for the original creator, but rather for the owners of the rights that come after them. Then, in pursuit of enforcing these protections, so-called enforcers take patents and copyrights to the extreme, essentially making a business of making people pay.
Patent Trolls
If you haven’t listened to “When Patents Attack!” on This American Life, do so immediately. As usual, the fantastic storytelling of this talented group tackles what seems on the surface like a not-so-big deal: companies suing each other over patents. It probably happens every day, so why the concern?
Because the intent has changed.
Where companies used to rely on patents to protect their inventions, they now rely on buying or leasing massive libraries of patents to protect them from lawsuits instigated by businesses whose whole model relies on buying patents and then suing companies who infringe (supposedly) on said patents.
What makes this practice particularly nasty is how the patents themselves have changed. In past years, receiving a patent meant identifying something very specific that was new and protecting that particular innovation. However, patents of late have been issued to cover very broad areas that arguably do not fit the intended goal of protecting a specific and new area of discovery. “When Patents Attack!” outlines several examples, including a patent issued for toast. Yes, toast. Even more frustrating, several patents have been issued that overlap with each other, creating competing patents for the same thing.
So what does this mean to you and me? It means that big companies are probably insulated from such attacks and lawsuits. For you and me, it means that starting a new technology venture will be filled with patent land mines just waiting to be stepped on. Small companies cannot afford to fund long-term litigation, so when they receive a letter demanding they pay for use of patents that these companies hold, the options are limited. To avoid closing their doors, these companies pay up, funding yet more legal action against other companies that are unknowingly infringing on patents.
Patents were meant to provide protection to the inventors so they would share their designs and we could all benefit. However, today’s patent protections are so broad companies like Apple and Microsoft are willing to pay billions to build a patent library to protect themselves from lawsuits. This American Life captured the travesty perfectly when it noted that those are funds that now won’t be spent on actual innovation.
Copyright Conundrum
Others much smarter than me have written in detail about the ongoing fight over extending copyright and ways to fix it. These battles include the efforts of companies whose business model relies on contracting with content creators to police “fair use” of their content and then issue either cease and desist letters or outright bills when they find content supposedly being used inappropriately.
As a writer, I’m clearly on the side of making sure that my content is protected in the sense that I don’t want someone claiming my original thoughts as their own. However, I fail to see the benefit of suing someone for using a paragraph of my content if appropriate attribution is used. And frankly, we’re all copying each other anyway.
The Creators’ Responsibility
We’re at a crossroads. Systems like Creative Commons are one way we can push back as creators. But we also need to talk about it and push back. When the reports for the patent story tried to find people in Silicon Valley to talk to for their story, they hit a wall. One guy was willing to go on the record. Bullies have power as long as we stay silent. If we don’t like the existing systems, we need to create new ones that do support our vision of a vibrant and innovative community.
