It's an interesting comparison and one that does seem apt the more you think about it. In separating out the "security" from the underlying asset, we tend to distort things. It was that distortion that resulted in the financial crisis, as it enabled those who wanted to sell risky things to obscure the actual risks and pretend that their securities were safer than they were.
Andy Grove, who oversaw Intel Corp.’s emergence as the world’s largest chip company, says the U.S. patent system suffers from the same kind of flaws that brought about the global financial crisis.
Patents have evolved to a point where they often aren’t developed into products, and instead are instruments traded by speculators looking for the highest possible profit, Grove said May 2 at an event in Mountain View, California. Similar to financial derivatives, the link between patents and the products they protect is getting more tenuous, he said.
Speaking to a diverse Silicon Valley audience that included Gordon Moore (founder of both Fairchild Semiconductor and Intel); Ted Hoff (co-inventor of the microprocessor); Carver Mead (VLSI concept); Intel CEO Paul Otellini; and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, Grove said the patent system is slouching toward the model that precipitated the financial crisis in the U.S.
--Bill Gates (when Microsoft was smaller)
Comments
Jose_X
2009-05-05 21:40:09
http://www.linuxtoday.com/infrastructure/2009050501435NWRHLL
It's worth reading the 11 page brief as well as the press release (as well as Glyn's article as well as....)
Three Cheers for Red Hat!
[It's not to late to join the FOSS world, Novell.]
Shane Coyle
2009-05-06 03:35:00
Agreed. We actually had a discussion in a similar vein here a few months ago.
twitter
2009-05-06 03:35:37
What's interesting is that they have bowed to the reality of the Biski decision. Seven months ago, independent observers have declared M$'s patent portfolio "worthless". More recently, the former head of the USPTO declared the US's whole "IP" stance from 1994 a failure. It has probably taken Intel, M$ and the other usual suspects that long to agree on their strategy for dealing with this new reality. We've seen that Intel, does not think M$ has any worthwhile business plans, and Vista's failure dissappointed the whole industry, so there might be a fundamental rupture. One thing is sure, companies won't just surrender their software patents. Common sense must be demanded by the rest of us.
Sean Tilley
2009-05-08 00:56:23
On the other hand, I'm not sure whether he's going to go around solving any problems.