Software engineer & founder of @RailsBridge and @LivableCode. Currently stirring the pot at @SalesforceUX. She/her. 
Twitter at the speed of parenting
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Because just like the historical cold war, the real losers are the small players - in this case, the startups & small companies who can't afford to amass a huge patent portfolio. Software patents discourage innovation and encourage corporate consolidation.
Remember - Oracle bought Sun 100% for its patents. Oracle didn't (and still doesn't) give two shits about any of Sun's products or people.
So two things: a) that doesn't actually happen much. Big companies can throw a building full of engineers at a problem, but it'll take them 6 months to get started on anything. A small company's advantage is speed & agility. b) For the times it does happen, patents don't help.
Sufficiently capitalized Oracle is indistinguishable from Mordor.
IP law in general is horrendous right now. I think the idea of patents/copyrights is a decent one, but the duration of them needs to be shortened drastically and they need to be made damn near impossible to renew.
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