The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) just received donations totalling half a million dollars towards their Defend Innovation project.
For those who haven’t heard of the EFF, it is a non-profit foundation that aims to fight against the abuse of patent systems and the misuse of laws to quash free speech. Their Defend Innovation project aims to bring a reform to the system of patents in the United States, such that patents are used for encouraging innovation rather than stifling it.
The Defend Innovation project aims to get the U.S. government to bring changes to the patent system such as reducing the term of software patents to five years, forcing patent trolls to pay for legal fees if there is found to be no infringement or if the patent is invalid, and even evaluating the very need for patents and whether they actually help. You can read more about the project and its goals on its website defendinnovation.org.
The generous donors to this cause are Mark Cuban, owner of numerous businesses and the Dallas Mavericks basketball team; and Markus Persson a.k.a. “Notch”, creator of the popular indie video game Minecraft. Notch has posted numerous times about his dissatisfaction with the American patent system, and Mark Cuban too has made his dislike known in public before. Now they have each donated $250,000.
EFF has used the money to hire an attorney Daniel Nazer who is an expert in patent litigation, and will also use it to help their campaigns to educate the public and the politicians about patent issues.
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“Temporary fixes aren’t good enough – we need deep and meaningful reform to protect software development and keep it as free and democratic as possible. New games and other technological tools come from improving on old things and making them better – an iterative process that the current patent environment could shut down entirely. This is a dangerous path we’re on, and I’m glad to help EFF move us in the right direction.”
Markus Persson, creator of Minecraft
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“The current state of patents and patent litigation in this country is shameful. Silly patent lawsuits force prices to go up while competition and innovation suffer. That’s bad for consumers and bad for business. It’s time to fix our broken system, and EFF can help. So that’s why part of my donation funds a new title for EFF Staff Attorney Julie Samuels: ‘The Mark Cuban Chair to Eliminate Stupid Patents’.”
Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks
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