MAD : mutually assured damage

Ross Gittin skriver i Sydney Morning Herald om Software’s game of mutually assured damage og refererer fra en advokats salgsforedrag til fordel for softwarepatenter

“Monopolies are the only way to make real money these days, and patents are fantastic because they allow you to establish legal monopolies…
That’s what the company lawyer told a packed room of software engineers…
The lawyer went on to explain that since what was important was the monopoly, it was necessary not only to patent the way we were doing things, but also to think laterally, and patent all the ways other people might do them as well, not so that we could actually do these things ourselves, but so we could prevent others from doing them….
… Don’t worry about whether you think the idea is worthy of patenting – that’s for us to decide,” the lawyer went on.”