Comment Patents are not the answer (Score 0) 417
Assume copyrights have been extinguished in favor of patent protection. Id puts out Doom 4. Everyone likes it, but many many terrorists don't want to pay $55 for it. Since copyrights no longer exist, many terrorists copy the game freely and Id goes under. Let's flip it and look at it from the patent side.
Assume copyrights have been extinguished in favor of patent protection. Bungie patents their way of drawing models. It's a broad claim, and just about anyone could be construed to infringe.
Scenraio A) Id releases Doom 4. Everyone likes it. Everyone likes it so much, Halo 2 sales on the PC dry up. Bungie sues Id and Id goes under.
Scenario B) Id can't move forward out of fear of infringing Bungie's patents, can't release any Doom games unless they use Doom 3 technology, and they go under.
Now the scernarios are not mutually exclusive, that's true. But relying on one protection scheme for software doesn't make sense, ESPECIALLY given copyrights and patents protect different things. Patent protection does nothing to stop people from making copies of the games, while copyright does not protect you from gaining protection on some truly inventive aspect. If anything, the bar for software patents should be higher, and people that copy games should be liable. I don't buy the argument that little johnny can't scrape up $50 to buy a video game so he should download it. Wrong. Little johnny should go outside and invent some fun if he can't afford the price set by Id.
