alt Hacker NewsFew companies write 100% of the software that runs on their hardware. If some insulin pump uses proprietary firmware licensed from Johnson & Johnson for some part of its operation, does Johnson & Johnson lose its entire firmware licensing business as soon as one customer goes bankrupt? Or are they forced to become a B2C company and manage and sell licenses to millions of people it had no relationship with before? Is it weaponizable: pick a competitor, get them to license some software to a shell company of yours that makes a token device with it, fold the shell company, and now the competitor is required to give away their firmware to the public (and you)?
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Exactly. Proprietary software and software patents need to end. In the case of medical devices, such restrictions violate the ADA by blocking access to reasonable accomodations.
Have you completely misunderstood the concept here? This isn't some IP virus that infects anyone that touches it. J&J keeps the IP that it owns, in all cases, obviously. The bankrupt company must release the IP that the bankrupt company owns, unless someone like J&J wants to acquire it and keep things running. Obviously a company that fails wouldn't destroy the IP of another company. Obviously the failed company only impacts the failed company IP. I think you may be trying too hard to find flaws in this idea, instead of trying to make it work.