Red Hat Asks Supreme Court To Eliminate Patents

No, really. Red Hat has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to outlaw software patents.

Outlaw! Now, we're going to go on another pro-patent rant here, but first we'll say this: No, we don't like patent trolls. Yes, the system needs reform so that some make-nothing patent hog can't tear a legitimately innovative company (that actually makes things) to shreds.

But outlawing software patents? Baby, bathwater, throwing one out with the other -- those are the words that come to mind. It's too much. Red Hat's argument is that patents stifle innovation. We would argue that patent trolls do that, but that patents themselves encourage innovation because (in an ideal world) they let the people who invent things make money off of them, which provides pretty good incentive to invent. We won't hold our breath waiting on the Supreme Court to respond to this.

Posted by Lee Pender on October 06, 2009 at 11:55 AM