On: The Patent Pledge

[rgoddard]

Unlike trademarks, you can hold a patent without having to defend it. You are not legally required to use it. So the choice to use it is yours. The logic behind defensive patents is similar to creating nuclear weapons as a deterrent and the theory of mutually assured destruction.

[priv_acy → rgoddard]

Except the superpowers with all the nukes routinely fling them at each other. Where is the deterrence?

If IBM is not deterred by Microsoft's patents, why would they be deterred by mine?

[teach → priv_acy]

I think you're mistaken about superpowers flinging nukes at each other. Only two nuclear weapons have ever been used in war, and that was 65 years ago.

[DanBealeC → teach]

It was analogy / metaphor. All the superpowers == all the big companies (Google, Apple, Samsung, etc) routinely fling nukes == lots of patent litigation.

[teach → DanBealeC]

Good call. That interpretation seems obvious in retrospect.