About Software Patents from a Principal Engineer

Software patents are a much-maligned but important part of being a commercial software engineer. In this video, I explain what software patents are and how to get them. I also talk about what they're used for, and what patent trolls are.

This is based on my 30 years experience as a software engineer at Microsoft, Amazon, Google, etc, and on the 30+ unique patents I've been issued. Note this is NOT legal advice. It's just a description of my experience.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
00:00 Introduction
01:00 Context and a Disclaimer
02:12 What is a software patent?
03:31 You can read patents, BUT...
04:23 Patent offices
05:34 More details on what and why
06:10 Enforcing patents
08:13 Patent trolls (e.g. SCO)
09:24 What is a good patent prospect
11:28 Public disclosure prevents patenting
12:16 The process in big tech
14:43 Why bother?
15:10 Examples of my patentable work
16:09 Summary
17:04 Wrap-up

https://www.uspto.gov/patents