

Ask HN: Are patent-lawyers like arms-dealers? - sdoering

OK, headline might be a bit "over the top", but:<p>Over the last month I was watching the patent "wars" and just now it struck me. Who always wins is the specialized patent-lawyers.<p>So are these lawyers structurally the same as arms dealers, who (in times of war) profit from both sides?<p>I know, real arms do kill people, lawyers not so much. But the structural similarities did strike me.<p>Am I totally wrong? What do you think?
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morganwilde
I don't think the parallel is accurate, in the sense that __arms-dealers
__provide the arms with which you can then inflict damage if you choose to,
and __patent lawyers __are only needed when you already have the "gun", I.e. a
patent, and also have chosen to fire it. To put things simply, without the
arms dealer you are not a threat, because you have no gun, but with or without
the patent lawyer you HAVE the patent and thus can be a threat.

