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Reform would be best, but Abolishing them would be better than the status quo.

• jacquesm 9y ago
  Reform is also achievable, abolishing not really.
• ythn 9y ago
  Wouldn't abolishing them create an out of control copycat shovelware economy worse than the app stores? I mean, if you can blatantly rip off other people's IP
  • phkahler 9y ago
    The ripoffs would have to compete. Some would compete on price, which might benefit the public by making things more available. Others might compete on quality, which might benefit the public by having alternatives to the cheapest crap someone can produce. Neither of those things happen automatically with patents.
    • userbinator 9y ago
      The ripoffs would have to compete. ...which of course means that they have to do something more than just copy IP --- in other words, make some sort of improvement. I'd argue that this sort of unrestricted sharing and competition will benefit the public more than the restricted form of competition that IP laws bring, because now everyone is free to remix and improve. In fact, that sort of thing has been going on in China for a long time now: https://www.bunniestudios.com/blog/?p=284 https://www.bunniestudios.com/blog/?p=284
      • phkahler 9y ago
        That was my point, without patents they compete on price or quality. With patents there is no incentive for the sole provider of a product to improve it in either way.