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As a software engineer I (quite cynically) have viewed patents as a way to protect IP and force people to pay you for using your solution. Do people frequently

As a software engineer I (quite cynically) have viewed patents as a way to protect IP and force people to pay you for using your solution. Do people frequently use the patent system (either for software or product design) as a catalogue of tools and building blocks they can use? I imagine it must be quite time consuming and painful to go through the licensing process. Would be cool if parents all had associated licensing terms and costs declared up front!

redpieintheface 10y ago
When patents expire all that's left is an incredibly detailed recipe for reproduction, now in the public domain. Much of the technology you use today only exists because individuals have been incentivised to iterate on established patents with the promise of their own monopoly on success.
- deleted 10y ago
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alister 10y ago
Nobody reads patents as a "catalogue of tools and building blocks they can use". Nobody reads patents even to learn. The only time anyone reads patents--at least computing patents--is if you're preparing a new patent and need citations, or you plan to sue someone, or if someone was suing you over a patent. Current computing patents are written in such obtuse legal language and with such generalities to make the claims as broad as possible, that they are impossible to understand unless you already understand the invention. Also, they tend to be incredibly long. As someone who's had the displeasure of writing a couple patents and reading many more, I can't imagine a worse way to learn about a subject than reading patents. I'd rather read academic papers, study the object directly (take it apart, read the source code), talk to experts, or attend conferences. EDIT: I'm not talking about nice mechanical patents from 200 years ago like the cotton gin. I'm talking about computing patents today.
- Someone 10y ago
  "Nobody reads patents even to learn." Even if patents were great learning sources, it would still be better not to read them before they expire. Infringing on a patent you know of is more expensive than infringing on one you don't know of, so, it's better to not read patents at all so that, if it comes to that, you can confidently state that you didn't know of the patent.

redpieintheface 10y ago

When patents expire all that's left is an incredibly detailed recipe for reproduction, now in the public domain. Much of the technology you use today only exists because individuals have been incentivised to iterate on established patents with the promise of their own monopoly on success.

deleted 10y ago
[deleted]

alister 10y ago

Nobody reads patents as a "catalogue of tools and building blocks they can use". Nobody reads patents even to learn. The only time anyone reads patents--at least computing patents--is if you're preparing a new patent and need citations, or you plan to sue someone, or if someone was suing you over a patent. Current computing patents are written in such obtuse legal language and with such generalities to make the claims as broad as possible, that they are impossible to understand unless you already understand the invention. Also, they tend to be incredibly long. As someone who's had the displeasure of writing a couple patents and reading many more, I can't imagine a worse way to learn about a subject than reading patents. I'd rather read academic papers, study the object directly (take it apart, read the source code), talk to experts, or attend conferences. EDIT: I'm not talking about nice mechanical patents from 200 years ago like the cotton gin. I'm talking about computing patents today.

Someone 10y ago
"Nobody reads patents even to learn." Even if patents were great learning sources, it would still be better not to read them before they expire. Infringing on a patent you know of is more expensive than infringing on one you don't know of, so, it's better to not read patents at all so that, if it comes to that, you can confidently state that you didn't know of the patent.