Re: Ordering Books from Amazon

["Stephen J. Turnbull" <turnbull@example.com>]

>>>>> "Hector" == Hector Akamine <akamine@example.com> writes:

    Hector> Excuse for my ignorance, but why not?  I have ordered some
    Hector> books from them, and I think their service is fine

Because they have patented a business process, "one click shopping",
or some such nonsense.  It's the Lotus look-and-feel stuff all over
again, except applied to business instead of personal data processing.

Worse than Lotus, patents on "software" and "business processes" are
_much_ more offensive than the _copyrights_ that Lotus (and Microsoft
for that matter) uses to protect its software, because independent
invention is _not_ a defense.

The problem is that these "devices" are too easy to invent, and thus
do not deserve patent protection since at best the patents serve only
to enrich patent holders and their lawyers.  At worst patents create
large transactions costs (the lawyers), to the detriment of society.

There is a counterargument, which I am currently researching[1], that
patents could be the foundation of a social policy to encourage and
enforce creation of reusable software components.  I believe this is
theoretically tenable, although I haven't finished the model yet.

However, it depends on an assumption that the cost of implementing a
patent is zero.  This is not true in the current system; patents are
the opposite of good documentation: they are intentionally obfuscated,
partly to make it hard to use them to actually construct working
models, and partly to support broad claims that the patent holder
himself doesn't understand ("I know when someone is using my idea when
I see it, and I see you!  Pay up!")  So even if software patents could
be socially valuable, we'd need substantial reform of the kinds
already demanded.  The simple solution is just to stop.

Also, the open source movement is proving that creation of much half-
ass reusable software is quite possible without patent protection.
(We'll have turned the other cheek when we start producing decent free
documentation before the software is obsolete.  No, Simon, GNOME's
reformatted .h files don't count as documentation, although they are
excellent raw material for creating the real thing!)

I do not blame businesses for taking advantage of the rules to gain
legal monopolies.  However, where possible I prefer to deal with
entities whose profits are founded on productivity and service, and
not on exclusion of rivals by force.  I'm willing to pay a little more
for the privilege of dealing with people I admire.



Footnotes: 
[1]  Economics is my day job.

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