Patents Are Not The Problem (Score 1)

Patents are not the problem with respect to companies not being able to create "perfect" devices. I know that a lot of companies complain that they are not able to innovate because there are so many patents, but a patent has never stopped innovation. In fact, companies engage in cross-licensing patents all the time. If you have technology that I want and need, and I have technology that you want and need, then we simply agree to a trade. This happens all the time. The only time this doesn't happen freely is in markets that are not mature. In makets that are not mature there are companies how are trying to monopolize the industry. Eventually everyone figures out there is more money to be made in cross-licensing rather than in suing others. The reason that patents do not inhibit innovation is because if a company refuses to deal their technology then other interested companies have to figure out inventive ways to accomplish the same task in order to get what they want. In this work-around effort technology will move forward, sometimes at a very quick rate. This advance in technology is exactly what the patent system is intended to bring about. An argument could be made that technology advances fastest when there are powerful companies that refuse to deal and try and monopolize. This is one phenonmenon that could explain how small start-up companies are so frequently able to compete with industry giants. Start-up companies do not face nearly the trouble that the media portrays. With solid technology and IP rights they will eventually compete, or they will be bought out. Not a bad days work!