'Patent WMDs' - What Are They Thinking?

There's been a lot of buzz in the Software Libre community regarding patents, and well there should be. But every time I read 'Patent WMD', I cringe. It's a nasty phrase, and I don't think it will have the results that the people using it would wish for.

WMD makes me think of unilateral invasion of countries. WMD makes me think of imaginary weapons, created to allow the invasion. WMD does not make me think of 'Weapons of Mass Destruction' at all. Further, patents are NOT Weapons of Mass Destruction. In all, I don't take 'WMD' seriously. Well, I'm not an Iraqi - I imagine that they take it all seriously.

What is with this dramatism? Since when did the Software Libre community run around spouting buzz phrases like some obscure 3rd world politicians?

Software patents are the equivalent of tactical nuclear devices. A little device in the right place can have devastating results. Therefore, a company with a lot of patents is a big danger to the community; they can wreak havoc by leveraging lawyers and the Patent Office - instead of innovation.

That's the real problem. Consider this - if a company owns the most patents in an industry, why should they innovate, spending money on Research and Development? 'No', the stockholders will say, 'Spend less money, make more!'. And so this will be done, and there will be less innovation from the company itself - and less innovation available for others, unless - of course - they pay the licensing. Suddenly, we're in the SCO business model:

1. Produce nothing.
2. Threaten with lawyers.
3. Get money for lawsuits.
4. ????
5. Profit!

Pardon me, but I don't see any 'innovation' here. These arguments for software patents are based on the need to 'protect innovation', but consider this: When did innovation become a product instead of a process? When something has been invented, the innovation has already happened. You can't capture it, stick it in a glass jar and amaze your friends when it's buttocks glows bright yellow. That's crap. Innovation is a process by which things are created.

I guess people who are limited to thinking of nouns as physical objects can think no further, and it's not their fault. But if they are the ones running things, we're in for a world of severely limited innovation.

So instead of hitting the issue at the core, we have a bunch of people running around saying, "Patent WMD, Patent WMD, Patent WMD!". *Eyeroll* Great, let's go invade Redmond unilaterally. That will do wonders for the image of the Software Libre community.

Give the buzzwords a rest. Stick to the facts, stick to the logical discussion. If you keep using buzzwords, the opposition will drag you down and beat you with experience.