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Software Patent Debate

[Recorded: August 24, 2011] THE MOTION: SOFTWARE PATENTS ENCOURAGE INNOVATION Proponents of software patents argue that software deserves the protection of p…

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  3. Software Patent Debate

    At Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA.
    (Not too far from Google HQ and in the heart of Silicon Valley.)

    The Motion: Software patents encourage innovation

    Two great debaters:

    For the Motion: Bob Zeidman, Entrepreneur and Author.

    Against the Motion: Professor Edward Lee UC Berkeley:?

  4. *El debate: ¿Las patentes de software incentivan la innovación?*

    *A favor:* Bob Zeidman, abogado, quien ha litagado a favor de Apple, Cisco,
    etc

    *En contra:* Edward A. Lee, profesor de Berkeley.

    *Moderador*: el presidente del *Computer History Museum*?

  6. Sorry, but the professor is simply doing a bad job. I would almost think he
    was chosen because of his inability. The key problem with patents is that
    software developers simply do not use patents at all, in their work flow.
    Never. That means the system is completely useless for its purpose. The
    pro-guy uses all sorts of strawman arguments that are not unmasked by the
    professor. Classical propaganda.

  7. less “disputes” doesnt mean a better system for processing disputes. you
    mean less regulation leads to less “dispute-solving”

  8. @kid29a Edward’s point wasn’t to compare software companies to criminals,
    but rather to illuminate that property claims that are difficult to even
    recognize or unclearly defined are prone to lead to conflict and litigation
    because of unwitting and unintentional violations.

  9. professor lee lost me at “patents work well in the pharmaceutical
    industry”. the pharma industry is one of the most evil of all industries
    and commonly use patents to *prevent* life-saving drugs from coming market
    (i.e. from a competitor). they also commonly headhunt researchers doing
    public work to prevent them from releasing cures. this is because cures are
    not lucrative for pharmas to produce and if cures are found elsewhere they
    make all of the pharma’s *treatments* completely obsolete.

  10. I like how they get the uncharismatic prof to argue against the motion.
    This is why we can’t have nice things.

  11. some people are too busy to build their own products. and what proof is
    even attainable that someone developed an idea independently.

  14. Good information regarding both sides of the debate. I would vote on Bob’s
    side for Patenting Software.

  15. Finally took time to listen to this at lunch after some of our
    dev/engineers kept mentioning how bad this was. You were all right. This
    transcends pathetic if you use the word debate in its most common form. The
    ‘con’ side was just awful, beyond words while the pro side used very easily
    attacked arguments. But this is common in many ‘debates’ and ‘panels’ that
    push an industry’s views.

  16. So its a video about a guy who is for software patents vs another guy who
    is also for software patents. The first guys arguments are intentionally
    misleading. Comparing method patents to regular ones. Comparing patent
    trolls to grocery stores (which distibute goods, patent trolls distrbute
    nothing.)

  20. This was a horrible debate. There were so many points that were missed. I
    urge everybody to listen to some of Richard Stallman’s speeches (available
    on YouTube) on software idea patents and intellectual property.

  22. Software Patent Debate

    At Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA.
    (Not too far from Google HQ and in the heart of Silicon Valley.)

    The Motion: Software patents encourage innovation

    Two great debaters:

    For the Motion: Bob Zeidman, Entrepreneur and Author.

    Against the Motion: Professor Edward Lee UC Berkeley:?

  23. Software Patent Debate

    At Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA.
    (Not too far from Google HQ and in the heart of Silicon Valley.)

    The Motion: Software patents encourage innovation

    Two great debaters:

    For the Motion: Bob Zeidman, Entrepreneur and Author.

    Against the Motion: Professor Edward Lee UC Berkeley:?