W.H. Auden and the patent system

From today’s NY Times Bits Blog, a short follow-up on Monday’s long article on the dysfunctions of the patent system. Today’s entry briefly tells the story of Apple’s early-1980′s patent entanglement with IBM, the then-dominant computer maker. IBM had a stack of PC-related patents, and it was using them partly to collect licensing fees, but mostly to fence out competitors. Big Blue brandished their patents against Apple and demanded licensing fees. But in the negotiations that followed, it emerged that IBM was concerned in particular that Apple not be competing against it in the mainframe computer business. As a condition of the patent license, IBM demanded that Apple never manufacture a computer larger than a government worker’s desk.

I’m surprised that the Apple people didn’t burst out laughing. In any event, the IBM threats apparently left an impression — Apple learned that if you aren’t a patent aggressor, you might be a patent victim. And that reminds me of this famous and wonderful bit by Auden:

“I and the public know

What all schoolchildren learn,

Those to whom evil is done

Do evil in return.”