The Patent trend

Once upon a time there was “The Gripp”. It was my first venture after grad school and we made a “stressball” that became a pet rock. Oh – what glorious times they were. We had four patents on this – seriously. Our smart employees would leave and set up shop to compete. Down the hall, down the street, next city, next state. We spent at least $1 million on the system. It did not help us. We wasted money. The lesson was – DISTRIBUTION is the PATENT. The deeper the distribution, the better the patent.

Brad Feld and Fred Wilson (oy – I wish he was not so right!) talk about patents (software and technology) from the investor/venture/entrepreneur side of things. Being on their side of the coin now – I think they are absolutley correct. Boy – have times changed for me. This is such a disturbing trend that it makes me want to scream! Instead, I blog to 3 people.

By the way – Fred may be correct, but he should say that lot’s of money gets BLOWED UP – no matter which side you are on – so that just like nuclear bombs, they are dangerous in the wrong hands!

A late addition to the software patent story from Paul Graham – a good one.