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September 1, 2011 12:17 am GMT

YCs Patent Pledge Asks Tech Companies To Grant Startups Patent Immunity

y_combinator_logo_400Y Combinator is about to wield its rapidly-growing influence in the tech community to help startups everywhere. And it's taking on one of the hottest (and most fear-inspiring) issues around: patents.Today YC cofounder Paul Graham has written a note called The Patent Pledge in which he proposes that tech companies should commit to a straightforward promise: "No first use of software patents against companies with less than 25 people."That's the entire pledge. There's no legalese or confusing conditions around it. But it could shake things up for tech companies in a big way. More important: unlike government intervention, which would likely take years, YC's Patent Pledge could be widely adopted in a much shorter timeframe. YC has set up a site at ThePatentPledge.org that lists a roster of the companies that have agreed to the pledge, which already includes fourteen well-known YC alumni like Airbnb, Disqus, Hipmunk, and Weebly.

Original Link: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/HCGCK63fnys/

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