I understand the theory behind patent laws.
Some inventions can be protected as trade secrets. You might be able to sell goods made by your recently invented process, while people who buy the goods are unable to reverse engineer the process by buying samples and examining them. But trade secrets can leak, or even worse, be independently re-invented. You might prefer to disclose the secret in return for a legally guaranteed monopoly. And society might have the opposite concern: if the secret is not independently re-invented, people will be paying monopoly prices indefinitely.
Other inventions cannot be protected as trade secrets. Once you start selling, the clock is ticking. Pretty soon others will be selling copies. That skews the priorities of inventors. Inventions, such as drugs, that get copied are only worth a year or two of first mover advantage. It is better to focus on processes that can be kept as a trade secret.
Theory? Meh! Things don't seem to work out like that. Patents get issued on truly original inventions and on lame stuff that any-one could come up with. Make a real invention and you get ripped off by having to license a bunch of pseudo inventions. Or maybe you could just check which areas of technology are covered by "patent thickets" and not try to invent anything in those areas.
There is a lot of history. This article goes over the Wright brother's patents
https://idlewords.com/2003/12/100_years_of_turbulence.htmGenuine, top notch inventions. But even here the patent system didn't work as intended. I find that disillusioning. Do patent laws every actually help inventors?
[ + ] CPU
[ - ] CPU 2 points 3.3 yearsJan 12, 2022 13:44:36 ago (+2/-0)
[ + ] ToNigIsToNog
[ - ] ToNigIsToNog 2 points 3.3 yearsJan 12, 2022 12:41:27 ago (+2/-0)
[ + ] RecycledElectrons
[ - ] RecycledElectrons 1 point 3.3 yearsJan 12, 2022 20:05:39 ago (+1/-0)
Source: They stole everything I created.
[ + ] localsal
[ - ] localsal 1 point 3.3 yearsJan 12, 2022 16:21:23 ago (+1/-0)
Patents protect an invention by creating an artificial monopoly for a short time to allow the inventor to recoup some investment. The idea is that this would encourage creativity and ideas.
One good example of the patent/monopoly flaw is James Watt's steam engine. The story is a pretty good read.
https://mises.org/library/james-watt-monopolist
https://fee.org/articles/do-patents-encourage-or-hinder-innovation-the-case-of-the-steam-engine/
As it stands now, the patent system forces - rather than encourages - people to get patents, or be shut out of their own market. The change to "first to file" rather than "first to invent" made everyone patent-happy and filing for everything they thought of, whether it would ever make it to market or not.
Along with that, the current attitude of patent examiners to grant patents for everything-under-the-sun is also stifling. A raft of "on a computer" patents in the 90/00s were debilitating to many small inventors, who saw tiny pieces of a larger idea now being protected.
One thing to note about patents: they do not prevent research, development, production or dissemination of any of the ideas covered - only the sale of items.
The idea that an oil monopoly can "buy" the patent for a carburetor and keep it off the market indefinitely is absurd.
A) The inventor still has the knowledge (but can be bound by an NDA) and can share that with anyone he chooses.
B) the patent would expire in 20 years, letting anyone build it
C) the patent itself (if issued) is public domain
D) patents - as intended anyway - are supposed to be written in such a way as someone "skilled in the art" should be able to recreate the invention with the document. That doesn't happen anymore, and nowdays patents are more a long list of "claims" that the invention supposedly does.
E) anyone not intending a product for sale can make any part or all of a patent for personal use. As long as money is not exchanged, the patent is not violated and the "inventor" suffers no loss.
The rise of the global market required strong IP laws, even if those laws suffer unintended consequences. Otherwise any invention can be stolen by another. However, the consolidation of manufacturing in China pretty much negated the requirement.
Protecting manufacturing in the USA can't be done if that manufacturing is offshored. Now all that is protected is the (((owners))) of said final product, and their ability to outsell any competitors.
Have patents outlived their usefulness? Hard to say. There are still garage inventors out there doing lots of amazing work. However, the equipment needed to produce new inventions can be pretty expensive, and having a bigger company swoop in and steal any new ideas can also lead inventors to not explore any ideas.
(((IP laws))) as implemented since 2000 are mostly evil, imo. The amount of small companies winning against megacorps is tiny, typically showcasing a skewed system. Patents were supposed to protect the little guy, but have resulted in the opposite being true.
Add in the fact that patent documents are vague and generic, and the public domain gains little "intellect" from them for future use.
[ + ] thebearfromstartrack4
[ - ] thebearfromstartrack4 1 point 3.3 yearsJan 12, 2022 16:07:10 ago (+1/-0)
[ + ] GeneralDisarray
[ - ] GeneralDisarray 1 point 3.3 yearsJan 12, 2022 14:36:25 ago (+1/-0)
If you invent something it will be stollen.
The patent system exists to get the information out of you. Not to protect your property or rights.
Just ask Mark Zuckerberg or Bill Gates how they got so rich. Stealing other people's ideas is protected when the system is run by a pedo cult.
If you are part of the cult you are protected and can take anything you want from the pions. If they speak up you can have them gangstalked, framed or murdered for a fraction of the cost.
Psychopaths have no imagination so they need to steal ideas to be successful.
If you work around them and come up with a great idea it will be stollen and they will get you fired so fast you won't believe it.
We are at a point where having great ideas and sharing them puts you in extreme danger!
[ + ] FacelessOne
[ - ] FacelessOne 1 point 3.3 yearsJan 12, 2022 14:06:52 ago (+1/-0)