1.1 --- a/org/patents.org	Mon Apr 01 15:47:39 2013 +0000
     1.2 +++ b/org/patents.org	Mon Apr 01 15:59:57 2013 +0000
     1.3 @@ -67,7 +67,14 @@
     1.4    almost any idea, there will be some patent that will cover your
     1.5    idea, and then the entity that owns that patent can prevent you from
     1.6    selling products based on that idea /or even giving products based
     1.7 -  on that idea away for free/.
     1.8 +  on that idea away for free/. This can become a MAJOR problem for
     1.9 +  free software, since for basically any program, some part of that
    1.10 +  program will be covered by a patent, and it can become impossible to
    1.11 +  legally distribute that program as free software. This is why some
    1.12 +  GNU/Linux distributions don't come with an mp3 player. The mp3
    1.13 +  algorighm is patented, and even if you write an open source mp3
    1.14 +  player, you will have problems distribuiting that player because of
    1.15 +  the mp3 patents.
    1.16  
    1.17    ** Patents are treated as physical objects
    1.18    They can be sold, seized, etc. This is because the government wants
    1.19 @@ -77,11 +84,17 @@
    1.20    product, you can sell that patent to some company and give them the
    1.21    exclusive rights to make that invention.
    1.22  
    1.23 +  Unfortunately, treating patents as physical objects has had an
    1.24 +  unintended side-effect: [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patent_troll][patent trolls]]. These are companies that
    1.25 +  collect patents from companies that go out of business (and though
    1.26 +  other means) and then sue companies for patent violations. The do
    1.27 +  not produce any goods or services; their entire business model is
    1.28 +  suing people. Most patent lawsuits (more than 50%) are initiated by
    1.29 +  patent trolls.
    1.30 +
    1.31    ** Patents are arranged in a dependency network
    1.32    
    1.33 -  Patents are usually a negative force, one that allows you to stop
    1.34 -  other entities from using knowledge to their own advantage.
    1.35 -
    1.36 +  
    1.37  * Google has created "neutral" patents via a pledge which attaches conditions to its patents.
    1.38    Google has a pledge at
    1.39    http://www.google.com/patents/opnpledge/pledge/ that says that for