Ok. Latest thing getting all the Singaporeans online excited and a little bit ashamed of our country- a possible Patent Troll. I have read through the patent and I think I understand what their claims are. It is amazing that such a patent got through. From reading the discussion over at Hardwarezone, it seems that Singapore’s patent system has a wee bit of a loophole that can be exploited.
BUT, Singapore isn’t unique in this case. We aren’t the only country blessed with patent trolling.
Go to Google and use this query term: patent trolling site:www.techcrunch.com
And from the investigations done over at Hardwarezone, this company may have an office in Singapore but the main characters in this story might not even be Singaporeans.
The patent system may be flawed in Singapore but this isn’t the only country having problems with the patent system. Go do some research and you will find out this is an issue in a lot of other countries which their regulatory bodies and businesses are having a tough time grappling with. Think about it - this patent was awarded in other countries too.
There is no reason for the online community to start using this as a reason to feel ashamed to be a Singaporean or bash Singapore.
The Singapore Daily » Blog Archive » Daily Tech: Microsoft Demos Windows 7 | 29-May-08 at 11:53 am | Permalink
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TP | 29-May-08 at 10:10 pm | Permalink
It does, however, impact some segment of Internet-savvy Singaporeans about how our country is being run. As if there isn’t enough “bad news” to feel attached to Singapore.
To me, the guy’s an Australian. He’s using Singapore for his patent trolling, so I don’t see any benefit of feeling ashamed. But at the end of the day, the world will still see Singapore as a very apathetic place, when it comes to political and social freedom.
iantimothy | 29-May-08 at 10:44 pm | Permalink
Hmmmm, why should Internet-savvy Singaporeans be impacted by this patent incident with regards to how our country is being run. This patent issue hasn’t arisen because of how our Singapore is specifically being run but how the patent system is managed worldwide. I would have thought Internet-savvy Singaporeans or for that matter any Singaporean would have seen that.
ivan chew | 03-Jun-08 at 10:30 pm | Permalink
As I commented in DK’s blog, it’s a company registered in Singapore. Not a Singaporean per se. Any, the nationality of the owners is irrelevant to me. I’m more interested (and chagrined) at their intents of registering their company in Singapore.