> they help to bring > knowledge into the public domain that otherwise could have been lost. An > example is the well-known Aranmula Kannadi of Kerala - a metallic mirror > made from an alloy like bell metal. Only one family knew how to make it, > and now just one person. If they could have patented the invention, the > knowledge will never have been lost. Now, we hope this one person who > has the know-how will teach someone else. Very possibly, there are many > such examples.
That one person could also have called for an open-to-all workshop and spilled out the secret recipe or whatever over there, and allow (or even urge) the participants to spread the word (equivalent to open sourcing of code). That way, there'd have been no need for patents in order to prevent the knowledge from being lost. Besides, IMHO (although /me is not a qualified expert on these stuff) patenting is definitely not equivalent to putting secrets into the public domain: the "exclusive rights" clause upholds intellectual property rights of the patent-holder, unlike public domain works! > As RMS says, patents on real > things are different, Does he categorically uphold the goodness of "patents on real things"? -- Sayan "Riju" Chakrabarti Kolkata, India. --------------------------------------------------------- GnuPG Public Key ID: 0xB6506B6F Alt. Email: [email protected] Website : http://sayanriju.co.cc --------------------------------------------------------- On Thu, Sep 23, 2010 at 8:41 AM, V. Sasi Kumar <[email protected]> wrote: > On Thu, 2010-09-23 at 00:05 +0530, A. Mani wrote: > >> While arguing against s/w patents, nobody should try justifying other >> forms of patents. > > But I think patents also do some good. As RMS says, patents on real > things are different, and may be desirably because they help to bring > knowledge into the public domain that otherwise could have been lost. An > example is the well-known Aranmula Kannadi of Kerala - a metallic mirror > made from an alloy like bell metal. Only one family knew how to make it, > and now just one person. If they could have patented the invention, the > knowledge will never have been lost. Now, we hope this one person who > has the know-how will teach someone else. Very possibly, there are many > such examples. The problem, I think, is the misuse of these laws, taking > them to absurd limits and to domains where they are not applicable. > > -- > V. Sasi Kumar > Free Software Foundation of India > http://swatantryam.blogspot.com > > _______________________________________________ > network mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.fosscom.in/listinfo.cgi/network-fosscom.in > _______________________________________________ network mailing list [email protected] http://lists.fosscom.in/listinfo.cgi/network-fosscom.in
