On Sep 6, 2004, at 11:07 AM, Yan King Yin wrote:
I'm currently in the process of filing a patent of my model. I think licences can be obtained fairly easy nowadays because the information economy is getting very efficient and so innovation is unlikely to be impeded by IP issues. Maybe patents will actually facilitate progress if more people can learn to utilize them.
You generally can't patent an abstract model, and even if you manage, such patents generally aren't enforceable -- it will collapse the first time someone with something more substantial challenges it. There is too much vagueness as to what you are trying to patent. If you don't have novel algorithms, explicit mechanisms with quantifiable results, you don't have anything. The old "you can't patent ideas" saw applies here. There are a lot of "abstract AI model" patents that have been granted by attempting some type of specificity, but since there is no specificity in practice (i.e. they've never been successfully implemented), they are something of a legal joke in terms of standing and it is plausible that an implementation of the abstract idea would not be subject to the patent in practice.
I don't object to patents per se, but I do object the squandering of resources on useless patent efforts. It isn't cheap of time or money, and for a patent area as complex as AGI, you'll need to be pretty well funded to get useful core coverage. My primary objection to useful patents from my perspective is that the application process is massively time consuming for something complex and abstract i.e. when it is something other than an easily describable widget or process that you can hand to a patent authoring consultant. I personally find it insanely tedious, as the patents I've had to author (and I've squashed many patent attempts on things I didn't consider worth patenting) generally required extensive involvement on my part, as in effort measured in man-weeks. Ugh.
Pick your IP battles carefully.
j. andrew rogers
-------
To unsubscribe, change your address, or temporarily deactivate your subscription, please go to http://v2.listbox.com/member/[EMAIL PROTECTED]
