MAFO (Mobile App Development Forum) is a community platform for mobile app developers, offering discussions, tutorials, and resources on mobile app development topics. With a focus on iOS and Android app development, MAFO provides insights, tips, and best practices to help developers build high-quality mobile apps. Developers can learn about mobile app design, development frameworks, and platform-specific features, and engage with fellow developers to share knowledge and solve problems.

Martin Fowler

A first-person account from a developer who moved from ideological opposition to software patents toward reluctant defensive patenting. After experiencing patent aggression at Hike Messenger in 2016, the author describes filing defensive patents for Specmatic (an open-source tool) not to monetize or block others, but as a shield against legal threats. The piece examines why alternatives like Open Invention Network membership and open-source licenses (including MIT) don't fully protect against patent attacks, and concludes that in an asymmetric legal environment, even open-source advocates may need defensive patents to protect their own innovations.

Ideological Resistance to Patents, Followed by Reluctant Pragmatism

Our reluctant journey to defensive patents