A portfolio of patents becomes a liability sooner or later, no matter who owns it.
The only one who can stop that is you -- by voting, lobbying or donating money to the EFF or similar organizations that are fighting against software patents.
If enough people did this, we wouldn't have this conversation -- but the truth is, most people accepted the status-quo and/or have other priorities, so after a little bit of hand-waving, life goes back to normal and it's business as usual.
And companies have the obligation to defend themselves -- they can't afford to just bitch-and-moan about this issue. And even companies acting in good-faith (if such a thing exists for companies) -- will choose the path of least resistance (i.e. building a patents portfolio). Otherwise, to make a (bad) analogy, it would be like going to war with "make love" signs.
The only one who can stop that is you -- by voting, lobbying or donating money to the EFF or similar organizations that are fighting against software patents.
If enough people did this, we wouldn't have this conversation -- but the truth is, most people accepted the status-quo and/or have other priorities, so after a little bit of hand-waving, life goes back to normal and it's business as usual.
And companies have the obligation to defend themselves -- they can't afford to just bitch-and-moan about this issue. And even companies acting in good-faith (if such a thing exists for companies) -- will choose the path of least resistance (i.e. building a patents portfolio). Otherwise, to make a (bad) analogy, it would be like going to war with "make love" signs.
Don't hate the player, hate the game.