If this is the one, then this is an unbelievably broad patent. I encourage everyone to at least skim through this thing, it is incredible that this can constitutes a valid patent.
The way that patent system in this country works for software patents is wrong, period. If it is this easy for someone to get sued then it should be made easier to fight back against these type of lawsuits.
At least doctors can get medical malpractice insurance to protect against the liability of losing a frivolous lawsuit. Software developers are on their own.
See patent liability insurance or errors and omissions insurance. Just because people don't get it doesn't mean it doesn't exist.
Doctors get malpractice insurance because they need it. As soon as software entrepreneurs need patent liability insurance everyone will have it. But we're going to need a lot more frivolous patent suits against small developers to make that happen.
Ah, I didn't know about patent liability insurance. I find it really heartbreaking that the independent developer has to worry about being crushed by lawsuits before they ever have a chance to make it. Just thinking about all of the innovation that will never happen as a result of this is saddening.
Maybe I'm just naive, but everyone always talks about a free market, but one of the most important features of a free market is ease of entry. If software entrepreneurs have to purchase patent liability insurance then this is an artificial barrier to entry. Yet another thing that you have to consider in the course of running your online business.
Every once in a while I use Google patents to browse software patents. What I see is disheartening. There are literally patents on almost anything you can do with a web application.
Even worse, most of the companies behind these patents are not technology companies but law firms with vast portfolios of multiple, redundant patents covering a broad array of topics. They bide their time - waiting for when some unsuspecting web company turns a profit. Then they swoop in to take their cut. I find this to be disgusting. Tech firms get stomped and lawyers get very, very rich.
The worst part of it is that there doesn't seem to be any solution. It seems as though insurance of some kind to protect against patent lawsuits will eventually be a mandatory requirement for any tech startup.
The problem with entrepreneurs purchasing insurance against frivolous patent lawsuits is that it will encourage the proliferation of these lawsuits even more. If everyone is insured then when they are sued they may be more likely to settle - rewarding the patent holders.
Over time the number of lawsuits would increase and so to would the premiums on purchasing this patent liability insurance. Eventually, the cost would become prohibitive for first time entrepreneurs and they would be prevented from being able to enter into the market.
Think about it. People keep talking about how they are looking for the next Google. As software patents pile up in the hands of unscrupulous patent trolls, it becomes less and less likely that there will ever be such a thing.
I don't mean to hyperventilate, but software patents sometimes cause me to lose sleep at night. Getting hammered by a patent infringement lawsuit is my personal worst nightmare. Is anyone with teeth doing anything to fight the patent trolls???
http://www.google.com/patents/about?id=nA2AAAAAEBAJ&dq=7...
If this is the one, then this is an unbelievably broad patent. I encourage everyone to at least skim through this thing, it is incredible that this can constitutes a valid patent.
The way that patent system in this country works for software patents is wrong, period. If it is this easy for someone to get sued then it should be made easier to fight back against these type of lawsuits.
At least doctors can get medical malpractice insurance to protect against the liability of losing a frivolous lawsuit. Software developers are on their own.