Well, my outlook is that I should do my part, and state my reasons for doing so to other people so they understand what I believe, and then maybe they will decide that patents are also bad. But it is not as though I will think someone is a bad person for believing in patents or filing them. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion on the matter.

I have a somewhat extreme view on patents. I've posted some of this on my personal blog, and also told my manager about it so she knows that although my career would benefit from it, I'm not willing to compromise. I think the issue is too important. If IBM ever decides patents are the only way they will value more anymore, or the only way I can advance, I will leave.

I am not 100% sure, but I believe I have met someone else in IBM who feels that their career has not moved forward because they do not have any patents. That could be true. But I also believe what one of the other IBMers I met said; that I should not be expected to or feel I need to compromise my morals or beliefs for the job.

Maybe it is easier for me to say that, since I'm a little younger. I don't worry about a job or stuff like that though; I've got enough people trying to hire me that I'm confident I could find something quick.

One of my CS professors told me that although he thinks the entire patent process is completely messed up, I should go for it because as one person I'm not going to fix it and it does mean he and I can get rich off the way things work. But I think that's exactly the problem with patents. People are naturally selfish and greedy. Shareholders are this way. Companies are this way. Employees are this way. Etc. That's why the system perpetuates itself.

In simple terms, I think of it this way. Where would our species be today if the first person to figure out paper patented it? Or fertilizer? Or the axe or screwdriver? The internal combustion engine or the wheel?

Of course, in your case, you don't have the option of sharing your ideas no matter what your decision. Work for hire means the company owns any IP. It's their idea and not yours. They will most likely get it patented somehow even if you don't have a hand in it. I am the passive protestor to this, I suppose. During Extreme Blue, there was a big push for filing disclosures. My team was the only one not to attempt any disclosures, as far as I know. If someone requests my help specifically on a patent application or anything related to a patent, I will refuse. I will not attempt to stop someone else, but I will not do anything to help.

There is also the argument that if your asset is your ideas, when why shouldn't you be able to patent those ideas and that will become the basis for your contribution to the species and how you make a living. You are the thinker, and someone else is the builder.

One of the problems I have with that mindset is that it is selfish and self-serving. Ideas are meant to be shared. That is how civilization has made progress for thousands of years. Everyone believes our children are our most valuable resource and that teachers are so important. But when it comes to making money, don't you dare teach! Keep it for yourself and milk it for all you can.

It also becomes a problem because ideas are not standalone things. All ideas are built on top of other ideas. At this point, it turns into that childish argument that goes something like this: I wouldn't have hit you if you hadn't broken my toy; I wouldn't have broken my toy if you didn't buy the toy; I wouldn't have bought the toy if you hadn't broken my other toy. Etc. It sounds crazy to apply to this patents, but due to the lifetimes of patents and copyright, it is applicable. A jet engine has so many patents on it that for someone else to build one would be the same way. You owe me for this and this and this and this and this.

The only reason we can write software today is because so much of it is coming out of academia where patents do not apply. Quicksort, arrays, try/catch, object-oriented languages, etc. We have competition for journaled filesystems today, but that would not have been possible if the idea came out of a company with a patent. Things that seem cutting edge today are the building blocks for the mundane tomorrow.

Crazy rant done.

I think for you, the two sides are the compensation+career, versus the internal discomfort of having your name associated with something you don't necessarily believe in. The majority of people you meet with will not feel that way but instead will congratulate you on your accomplishment. You'll just have to figure out which of those two sides is the one you would prefer to live with.

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