Sun's Schwartz Wants A Patent On Per Seat Software Pricing

from the yeah,-like-that's-never-been-done-before dept

Apparently, Sun's President Jonathan Schwartz has filed for a patent on Sun's per-seat pricing model. Yes, apparently, the idea of selling software on a per-seat basis is so non-obvious that it might just be patent-worthy. As ridiculous as this sounds, it looks like he's doing this out of defensive purposes more than anything else, as the article claims (but doesn't have an actual quote) that any proceeds from his patents will go to charity. Of course, if he's only getting them for defensive purposes, than why would they ever be licensed and why would there ever be any revenue? No matter what, this is yet another demonstration of idiotic patenting for the sake of nuclear stockpiling. Everyone is just trying to get as many patents as possible for the sake of having a big patent portfolio for the lawyers to fight (and bill) over. It doesn't help innovation. It slows it down.