

Apple Settles Patent Lawsuit - Are patents a good thing? - inovica
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,139889-c,legalissues/article.html
I've always seen patents (in software) as a means for larger companies to squash any kind of competition from small startups. What is the experience by people on here? Do you check for existing patents first or do you just 'go for it' ?
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tlrobinson
The problem is that the patent system is a) broken and b) _very_ abused.

It's at the point where companies will go out and patent everything they
possibly can, in order to _protect themselves_. Then, when company A decides
to sue company B for patent infringement, company B simply finds a patent of
theirs that company A is infringing, and they counter-sue then call it even.

It's utterly ridiculous, but it's common and considered normal these days. For
example, the Qualcomm / Broadcom patent lawsuits. Cisco does the same thing.

