Developing analogies is an art form. It was one that all writers dabble in, but few do really well. Sometimes, however, it goes from merely inept into truly tortured.
I blame it on his time away from blogging recently, but Tim Lee’s effort to compare eminent domain abuse to software patents might as well have been waterboarded and walked around naked on a leash.
Tim has been writing a lot about cities in Missouri using a ""clear cutting" style of real estate development in which the city council declares an entire neighborhood "blighted" or in need of redevelopment." The city council chooses a big plan from a large developer, declares eminent domain, kicks out tenants whether they want to go or not, and then bulldozes the joint to build what they perceive is a better neighborhood for tomorrow…you know the story.
Somehow, Tim tries to compare these "Soviet-style five year" planner-type city officials to patent lawyers. Having read it 10+ times, I’m still struggling to understand how the analogy makes sense to anyone. I suppose the clever part of his argument was to blame it on the universally-despised profession of lawyers and hope that libertarians would give him the benefit of the doubt. BUT, it did get me thinking that his work in eminent domain might have some application to the world of software patents after all.
Much like those Soviet-style city planners, Tim and his friends in the anti-software patent camp have a vision for the way the software industry should look. It is beautiful: paved in gold, based on sharing and sharing alike, and devoid of any nasty software patents.
It’s such a beautiful vision, and the software industry now is so awful and blighted, they believe it justifies nuking the entire system of software patents. They chant:
"Who cares about the thousands of companies around the world that own software patents!"
"We are smarter and can use those ideas better! I don’t care who owns them, let’s take them!"
"If we don’t have to worry about the property rights of others, just think of all the amazing things we could create!"
So, eminent domain abuse can be compared to software patents – it’s just that Tim has it backwards.
As Tim said, "A real estate developer shouldn’t have to consult his city’s "master plan" before renovating an old house." However, he should have to consult the owner of the land before he starts building on it.