Posted on 12/16/2010 9:16:44 AM PST by snarkpup
High-tech SMEs will find it almost impossible to enforce them, says SMEIA
Patents do not give protection to inventive small businesses because they are impossible to enforce, an organisation claiming to represent small technology companies has said.
In an open letter (two-page/486KB PDF) to Government ministers, the group said that small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are not able to take advantage of the protection offered by patents.
(Excerpt) Read more at theregister.co.uk ...
The small high-tech company I worked for was—as discussed in the article—on the other side of this issue. Patent trolls claiming to have patents on basic concepts in computer programming pounced at IPO time (when small companies are most vulnerable to this sort of thing). E.g., one of these trolls claimed they had a patent on the idea of using "sliders" in user interfaces.
Doesn’t White Castle hold all patent rights on sliders?
No. According to their web site, slyder® is trademarked, not patented.
The truth is, it can take 4 years to get a patent but a large company can kill you in a nanosecond with competition. Even if you do get a patent it can take millions to defend in court against a larger company with more dollars.
Actually, large companies almost never assert patents against small companies. It is typically the other way.
Large companies are afraid of getting into litigation as anything can happen (in the counter-suit, they may lose billions in damages, while the small companies may lose only tens of thousands).
Patents are just a license to hire a lawyer.
Can’t afford a lawyer? - don’t get a patent.
There is a massive difference between trade secrets and patents. It is extremely difficult to protect either anymore except through strict secrecy and that isn’t always possible.
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