CYBERSPACE — Each year, tech savvy citizens and white hat hackers discover security holes in big name software and then selflessly report their findings, sometimes even handing over the vulnerability solution, all free of charge. One company thinks that it’s time to stick it to the techno Man and is urging security researchers to patent their fixes and demand compensation before allowing anyone to use them.While some may well see this as a form of ethically questionable profiteering, IntellectualWeapons.com sees it as good business.
While the company’s website admits that it “fully [anticipates] major battles” in court, it’s confident that it can prevail, if only those involved are strong and dedicated enough to stick it through to the end. “We need people who have the emotional stability and the tenacity to persevere with each project,” IntellectualWeapons.com explains, “from describing the vulnerability, and helping develop the fix, through to generating and enforcing the IP.”
Ambitious is only one word that can be applied to the scrappy company, given that it’s hope is to not only patent, sell, and defend the fixes in court, but also work to parent any adaptations created to address the vulnerability. Any profits will be shared between Intellectual Weapons and the brainiac who discovered and resolved the situation.
Small potato software fixes need not apply, however. Intellectual Weapons is only interested in solutions with feet that can march into deep corporate pockets. No programs about to be put out to pasture, no cash poor vendors, and no fixes that can’t be explained easily in court. Only companies with “highly valuable” products that contribute a goodly “percentage of the vendor’s revenue” can ride this ride.
While Intellectual Weapons may be the latest to stick its hand out in hopes of grabbing a piece of the economic pie chart, it’s not the only one that’s gotten the idea in its head, according to SecurityWatch.eWeek.com. Already fishing about – or having given it a try in the past – are iDefense Labs, TippingPoint, and even the Mozilla Foundation.
Not everyone is worried about such aggressive tactics, however. Matasano Security’s Thomas Ptacek points out that a patent can take more than seven years to be completed, not counting the time invested in litigation against a big name entity.
Intellectual Weapons isn’t afraid, however, insisting that a Petition to Make Special may ease and speed its way to patent success. Barring that, pursuing an easier to obtain utility model instead of a patent is another option. Thanks to the fact that “In most companies where utility model protection is available, patent offices do not examine applications as to substance prior to registration,” the company expects a greater chance of seeing its requests granted. This approach would work best in countries including Argentina, China, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, Philippines, Poland, Russia, South Korea, Uzbekistan, and some EU member nations.
It could still be an uphill battle, however, given that international patents require a jurisdiction by jurisdiction battle. Whether Microsoft’s national or international entities are even a little bit rattled by this news is unknown – but unlikely.
