Bruce Perens dismisses patent pools in speech at WSIS

["Florian Mueller" <florian.mueller@nosoftwarepatents.com>]

Bruce Perens yesterday elaborated on the issue of patent pools.  I just now
became aware of this text in his blog (http://perens.sourcelabs.com Friday
11/18 entry):

But there's bad news on the horizon. Obviously, there are companies that
will profit most if the world remains divided into a few powerful software
"haves" and a globe full of "have-nots" who must live upon sufferance. The
software plutocracy has attempted to draw more borders around knowledge that
would destroy Open Source using software patents. The patent system grants
monopolies for things that aren't legitimate inventions, and because of the
high legal costs involved it grants justice only to the rich.

The news for Open Source is much worse than large patent holding entities
like IBM would tell you: software patent holders have the ability to
entirely destroy Open Source, and they will do so if you don't stop them.
They will stop our developers with lawsuits intended to restrain those
developers rather than to collect fees for damages. The software patent
holders have so far held off from attacking Open Source until they can get
more nations to pass software patent laws. Moving against us now now would
only raise more objections to their political campaign. But the time will
come. We fought the software patent camp off successfully in Europe last
year, but they've already started a new offensive, and now they are using
ineffective patent pools to deceive legislators that the problem is solved
for Open Source and that laws supporting software patenting can now go
ahead. Planning to defend Open Source with a patent pool is like planning to
hold off the avian flu with a box of tissues.

When faced with legal fees that can reach five Million dollars for a single
case, individual developers and even medium-sized firms must capitulate and
admit to guilt no matter how absurd the claim, simply to end the case and
escape with what funds they can retain. The software patent game benefits
only two parties: the few giant companies that can mount patent lawsuit
attacks large enough to subdue any smaller competitor, and the patent
"trolls", entities that have no real products except for a patent that they
enforce. Everyone else loses, be they Open Source or the
small-and-medium-sized enterprises that make up 80% of the economy in
developed nations and close to the entire economy in undeveloped ones.