Patent Fears

17 Jul 2011

The Guardian reports that several independent European software developers are removing their apps from sale in the US for fear of being sued.

[Simon Maddox] told the Guardian that it’s “far too dangerous to do business” in the US because of the risk of software patent lawsuits.

But for US-based developers, the problems remain. Craig Hockenberry of Iconfactory, developer of Twitterrific, remarked that “Just when you think things couldn’t get any worse, they do and tweeted that “I became an independent developer to control my own destiny. I no longer do”. Iconfactory is among those being targeted by Lodsys, but earlier this week was granted a 30-day extension to reply to Lodsys’s claim.

Even if you are not against software patents in general, it is becoming increasingly clear that the current system does not work as originally intended and might actually stifle innovation rather that help it.