Quoting Naresh on Software Patents

What has changed is my understanding of power asymmetry. Large players can treat patents as a tool to extract royalties and fend off competition, while startups often have no choice but to patent execution paths to protect their work from appropriation or exclusion. When legal leverage outweighs originality or execution, ideology alone does not protect you. Used thoughtfully, patents can act as a shield, not a weapon.

This insight is highly relevant for startups building foundational infrastructure in spaces dominated by large companies with better lawyers than engineers.

In many ways, the fact that startups like us feel compelled to file defensive patents proves Martin’s argument. When a system is designed to reward legal capacity instead of novelty or technical merit, even those who believe deeply in openness are forced to engage with it, not out of conviction, but out of necessity.

– Naresh Jain on Ideological Resistance to Patents, Followed by Reluctant Pragmatism