Brad Feld

Results for: patents

Two Major Supreme Court Decisions on Patents

Jun 02 2017
In moments of political despair, Amy reminds me that we have three branches of government. Around issues that I care a lot about and have engaged in over the years, the Judicial Branch seems to be the most functional right now, at least from my perspective. This was reinforced by two things this week. The […]
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Potential Progress On Dealing With Software Patents

May 09 2013
I woke up this morning to a great article by Nick Grossman at Union Square Ventures on The Patent Quality Improvement Act. Nick does a great job of describing the software patent problem, suggesting several solutions, and explaining how the Patent Quality Improvement Act helps the increasingly dismal situation around software patents. Nick has a great paragraph from […]
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A Software Entrepreneur On The Madness Of Software Patents and Trolls

Aug 22 2012
I regularly get emails and have discussions with entrepreneurs who are on the receiving end of a software patent lawsuit. Many of these are young companies, often with little or no revenue. It’s total, completely madness. If you don’t believe me, read the latest rant from a young entrepreneur on the receiving end of a […]
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Innovating Against Software Patents

May 24 2010
Last week, Microsoft sued Salesforce.com claiming infringement of 9 software patents. This comes shortly after Nokia sued Apple who sued Nokia over software patents, and after Apple sued HTC who sued Apple over software patents. As an example of the ridiculous nature of software patents, Microsoft’s claims cover user interface features, including a "system and […]
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1-Click and Social Network Patents and a Jet Pack

Mar 10 2010
Today, Amazon’s 1-Click patent was confirmed following a four year re-examination.  Amazon now has ownership of a highly controversial and very absurd patent which I hope will only be used defensively.  This a classic example of a “business method patent” that should simply not exist.  I continue to wait patiently to see what the Supreme […]
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Phenomenal Essay On Why Software Patents Are The Problem

Feb 19 2010
If there is one thing you read today, go read Brad Burnham at Union Square Ventures excellent essay titled Software patents are the problem not the answer. Several years ago when I first started saying things like “software patents are invalid constructs” or “software shouldn’t be able to be patented” or “software patents are a […]
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Patents Are A Weak Measure of Innovation Activity

Feb 18 2010
After not seeing the word patent in my daily information routine for a few weeks, I saw it twice today – first in an article titled Turning Patents Into ‘Invention Capital’ (in the NY Times) and then in Region Sustains Robust Patent Production in the WSJ.  Both stirred me up early this morning, but for […]
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Do Patents Slow Down Innovation?

Jan 30 2010
I had a very interesting meeting yesterday with an MIT Professor who I’ve known for a long time.  He is anti-software patent, as am I.  However, he suggested something I hadn’t really spent much time thinking about, namely that patents slow down innovation.  Some very credible folks have been talking about this for a little […]
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Proposal: An Independent Inventor Defense Against Software Patents

Jan 12 2010
Brad Burnham at Union Square Ventures put up a very important post last night titled We need an independent invention defense to minimize the damage of aggressive patent trolls.  His partner Fred Wilson echoed Brad’s thoughts on his blog with a post titled Why We Need An Independent Invention Defense. Brad’s post starts out with […]
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