On Mon, 2012-06-18 at 23:00 -0400, Oscar Hsieh wrote: […] > The original intent of Patent is to promote innovation by encouraging > people sharing their "secret recipe" without losing the benefit of being > the first. I don't think anyone can deny that the Patent system worked > pretty well past. It only becomes a problem when it applies to Software > since software evolves a lot faster.
I do not think patents have worked as well as people are making out, even ignoring the knotty issue of software and business patents. cf. drug companies, mobile network operators. The words "cartel" and "stitch up" spring to mind. The only positive aspect of patents is to allow someone with an invention but no resources to exploit that invention, to make details public so that organizations with the resources to exploit the invention can do so, and the original inventor obtains a royalty. Everything else about the patent system is broken to some extent one way or another. And Cédric there is plenty of proof out there, just look at the list of legal cases about patents in the UK, Australian, and other courts as well as the USA ones: there are at least as many proving the "broken" case as there are proving the "working" case. If we had money to resource the search, I would create a list of authorities. More generally: nasty big companies pick up patents, exploit them, fail to pay royalties and then when the patent holder asks for royalties, the company says "sue us". Little players simply do not have the resources to enforce patents. So it relies on the big organizations playing fair. Which rarely happens. We know this happens we have all been there, but there is little written evidence that can be provided. The idea that the patent belongs to the original inventor is being challenged by having a "first to file" rule. This simply undermines the whole point of supporting the inventor since big companies hear of a new idea and simply file before the original inventor has a chance and, because of the very nature of patent applications, the original inventor has no chance of showing prior art. If "first to file" is taken up then you know the patent system has just been hijacked by the big companies. In the end patents have become a game played only by organizations with significant resources as marketing and business tools. Simply look at the way the mobile phone companies are operating to try and stop competition. This is what patents are about now, nothing to do with the small guy. New inventions are now best handled by commercial secrecy, NDAs, and actually getting to market. OK, possibly get a patent along the way for more security once the product is released. -- Russel. ============================================================================= Dr Russel Winder t: +44 20 7585 2200 voip: sip:[email protected] 41 Buckmaster Road m: +44 7770 465 077 xmpp: [email protected] London SW11 1EN, UK w: www.russel.org.uk skype: russel_winder
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