[LINK] patent thickets

[Kim Holburn]

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20101028/09595211635/why-the-answer-to-the-smartphone-patent-thicket-is-not-a-patent-pool.shtml

> Why The Answer To The Smartphone Patent Thicket Is Not A Patent Pool
> 
> from the sorry,-but-no-thanks dept
> 
> We recently wrote about the incredible patent thicket in the smartphone space. For some reason, in the course of a few days, about ten different publications all created a very similar graphic about "who was suing whom" in the smartphone space for patent infringement. Unfortunately, most of those graphs had the wrong data and/or did not include non-practicing entities, who make up some of the most serious (and expensive) lawsuits in the space, and are certainly an important part of understanding the thicket. We created our own graphic here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/floorsixtyfour/5061246255/

> Anyway, with so much attention being paid to this patent thicket, of course it would only be a matter of time until someone popped up with a favorite "solution" to patent thickets: "patent pools." The WSJ Digits blog has an article about a forthcoming paper that compares the smartphone patent thicket to the sewing machine patent thicket in the 19th century, and suggests that the same solution used then could work now: just have everyone create a patent pool to share their patents. 
> 
> We've heard this before, and explained before why patent pools aren't a really good solution. In fact, two years ago we pointed to new research showing evidence for why that famed sewing machine patent pool actually did more to hinder innovation than to encourage it.



-- 
Kim Holburn
IT Network & Security Consultant
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