Not a day seems to pass without at least of a couple of news about someone suing someone else on patent grounds. It seems that there is almost nothing out there that doesn't have a patent on it.
Which makes me ponder how much does this affects innovation, and ultimately consumer's ability to have several options to choose from. With a higher risk of being sued, many small companies and startups might not want to take the change of getting sued out of existence and probably not bring to market products that compete with the ones of established players.
This playing it safe attitude is not good for the consumers, since it limits our choices, or to innovation that produces better products though open and direct competition for our money.
The current patent wars need to end, they are not beneficial to innovation or consumers. They are about companies, and how to protect their profit margins.
I can't really hold a straight face anymore when corporations say that the lawsuits they make are for the benefit of consumers, so they can bring the best possible products to them. Each time they fail to mention that by barring newcomers to the market, they are effectively locking the consumer to use their products.
There is a dire need of a new patent system, one that makes it easy to innovate while protecting those ideas that are worth it. Or else, the ones that are set to lose more are the consumers.
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