Technological advancement breeds patent infringement cases, it seems. Every week seems to bring a new case of companies suing each other over the use of patented technology. In some cases, I’m wondering if it’s worth the battle.
I’m no legal expert but it seems to take years to bring a patent infringement suit to court. That’s not counting how long a judge or jury might take to rule on the case. Some of these companies are so large they can just throw lawyers at the problem and prolongate the battle. I could imagine a case like the current Apple vs. Nokia battles taking many many years to resolve.
Most of the patent infringement cases I’ve seen lately are software related. They usually cover architecture or core components of software. It is the nature of software to be updated, relatively frequently. Even such fundamental parts like architecture can and are updated albeit less frequently.
When a suit comes to court for software patent infringement has the software updated itself to no longer be covered by the patent? Has the patent had it’s “time in the sun” and is now obsolete? I wonder if the process by which patent holders can secure their royalties by someone else monetizing their patent is being obviated by the speed of technological development.
If nothing else it keeps the lawyers and journalists busy.
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