While pitching our project the other day, someone asked the question I was hoping no one would ask:

You're going to file a patent for this technology right?

Well... It's not that I don't like software patents, I fucking loathe them! Every single cell of my breathing body (and it's natural parasites too!) hates software patents!

But this wasn't the first time the question popped up. When the idea came tumbling down the pipe, the conversation took this course:

Vitor: Hey, we can even patent that shit!
Me: @*&#! SAY WHAT?????? No!
Vitor: But...
Me: NO!

Fast forward a few months. There I was, catching up with a long time friend, talking about generic stuff, discussing startups, projects, you know the drill. All of the sudden, he goes Uncle Ben on me:

Managing a company is all about minimizing risk and maximizing profit.

And the he continued:

Given your situation my advice for you both is to file the patent, if only to be used for defense purposes. Just like Red Hat.

Now, this guy has been spreading the gospel for a long long time. I was hit by a truck and never saw it coming.

But he was right. And Vitor was right too. And so was the seed investor when he popped the dreadful question. Yet, I still don't believe filing a patent for a "method, system and apparatus" for doing something will prevent someone from creating a better mouse trap. Even if someone decided to implement said "method, system and apparatus" byte-by-byte, we, 7syntax, wouldn't enforce the patent, at least not on my watch. I, for one, would prefer to keep the money necessary to file a patent or enforce it in the bank and save it for better uses, like, to out-do the competition.

But in the end what does it make of me? By being so brutally honest and sticking to my principles, am I being an idiot? Patents are very serious business. And this is the question that's keeping me up tonight: by enforcing such a hard line policy on the issue, what am I doing?