6 ms·

To play the devil's advocate: 20 years from now someone trying solve a hard problem could stumble upon your patent via a simple google search.

by desdiv 11y ago

ajb 11y ago
I suppose in 20 years google might have developed a machine translation tool from patentese...
IshKebab 11y ago
Yeah and learn nothing. Have you read patents?
- usea 11y ago
  I read a (software) patent for a job I was working a few weeks ago. I stumbled on the patent when doing a broad google search on the topic. I had to read it carefully because of the way it was worded, but I will admit that I came away from reading the patent understanding a novel way to solve a problem that I hadn't considered before. It was the first patent I read all the way through, on a topic I didn't have much experience in. Granted, a single paragraph on a forum or blog could have communicated the idea just as well. In no way am I defending the current state of IP or patent law in the US (on the contrary, I would prefer abolishing all patent law over the current system). However, it's definitely not impossible to learn things from patents.
toolslive 11y ago
I've discovered something for the company I worked for, wrote the patent draft and spent weeks trying to explain to the patent lawyers,who wrote the final version, how it worked. So I should have a good understanding of the topic, but yet, I honestly don't understand the granted version of the patent. It's total gibberish.
- dognotdog 11y ago
  You are not alone, I also do not understand much of my patents after they've been lawyered up. I attribute it to a) them trying to change the language to be as broad as possible, while b) making it also deliberately hard to figure out what the damn thing is supposed to do in the first place.
  - justaman 11y ago
    One of the greatest crimes of recent history is allowing lawyers to write a document so confusing only their circle of lawyer buds can understand it. Much of the "legal" world is so obfuscated that ignorance SHOULD BE a valid excuse for breaking the law.
rakoo 11y ago
He could have written a paper about the process, published it on his own website, and have anyone be able to stumble on it and improve on it today

To play the devil's advocate: 20 years from now someone trying solve a hard problem could stumble upon your patent via a simple google search.

by desdiv 11y ago

To play the devil's advocate: 20 years from now someone trying solve a hard problem could stumble upon your patent via a simple google search.

ajb 11y ago

I suppose in 20 years google might have developed a machine translation tool from patentese...

IshKebab 11y ago

Yeah and learn nothing. Have you read patents?

usea 11y ago
I read a (software) patent for a job I was working a few weeks ago. I stumbled on the patent when doing a broad google search on the topic. I had to read it carefully because of the way it was worded, but I will admit that I came away from reading the patent understanding a novel way to solve a problem that I hadn't considered before. It was the first patent I read all the way through, on a topic I didn't have much experience in. Granted, a single paragraph on a forum or blog could have communicated the idea just as well. In no way am I defending the current state of IP or patent law in the US (on the contrary, I would prefer abolishing all patent law over the current system). However, it's definitely not impossible to learn things from patents.

toolslive 11y ago

I've discovered something for the company I worked for, wrote the patent draft and spent weeks trying to explain to the patent lawyers,who wrote the final version, how it worked. So I should have a good understanding of the topic, but yet, I honestly don't understand the granted version of the patent. It's total gibberish.

dognotdog 11y ago
You are not alone, I also do not understand much of my patents after they've been lawyered up. I attribute it to a) them trying to change the language to be as broad as possible, while b) making it also deliberately hard to figure out what the damn thing is supposed to do in the first place.
- justaman 11y ago
  One of the greatest crimes of recent history is allowing lawyers to write a document so confusing only their circle of lawyer buds can understand it. Much of the "legal" world is so obfuscated that ignorance SHOULD BE a valid excuse for breaking the law.

rakoo 11y ago

He could have written a paper about the process, published it on his own website, and have anyone be able to stumble on it and improve on it today