Z:gnu-www-ja-stallman-mec-india--5b9568-However, deterrence doesn't wo/en

However, deterrence doesn't work as well for patents as it does with nuclear weapons, and the reason is that each patent is pointed in a fixed direction. It prohibits certain specified activities. So the result is that most of the companies that are trying to get some patents to defend themselves with, they have no chance of making this a success. They might get a few patents, you know. So they might get a patent that points there, and they might get a patent that points there. OK, and then, if somebody over here threatens this company, what are they going to do? They don't have a patent pointing over there, so they have no defense.