3 ms·

I would tend to agree. There's two built-in protections for hardware: patents, and the massive costs of the means of production. If there are no patents, then m

I would tend to agree. There's two built-in protections for hardware: patents, and the massive costs of the means of production. If there are no patents, then means of production is the only barrier to essentially all available technology. Any minor player that brings technology to market will be vaporized by the marketplace dominance of the big players. We'd be back to trade secrets for all hardware technology (bye bye open standards) It would certainly be better for technology in the short run, but the outcomes for human civilization could be catastrophic since competition is so damaged any time big players have so much control that they can undermine the free market. No, the solution isn't to eliminate patents. It's to reduce the term of patents and copyright in general to more reasonable lengths of time. 20 years is at least 5 generations in most technology fields. If we want to stimulate tech, then we should reduce a hardware patent to 7-10 years, and a software copyright to 14-25 years. We should not reward rent-seeking behavior that does not provide any value to the economy.

tomc1985 9y ago
Give both a max time limit of 10 years. 25 years for an algorithm is absurd
- mjevans 9y ago
  How about patents and copyrights have an automatic 10 year 'automatic' copyright/copyright (similar to now for at least copyrights). Then, after that, an entity must actively pay an exponentially increasing rate of fees to retain the copyright. Trademarks, as a consumer protection, should just have a low, flat fee, on a fixed basis (with early renewal allowed).
  - ekianjo 9y ago
    this increases regulations and favors the big players who have no issue footing the bills.
ekianjo 9y ago
14 years for software copyright? thats way too long especially since patents tend to be super broad these days.
- da_chicken 9y ago
  It very well may be, but I would tend towards being conservative with a first attempt at correction, and the current term is 120 years. Keep in mind, too, that copyright is what backs the GPL and other free software licences. You thought Tivoization was bad? If we set the expiration date to 5 years, then the 4.0 Linux kernel would be eligible for proprietary use by 2020.

tomc1985 9y ago

Give both a max time limit of 10 years. 25 years for an algorithm is absurd

mjevans 9y ago
How about patents and copyrights have an automatic 10 year 'automatic' copyright/copyright (similar to now for at least copyrights). Then, after that, an entity must actively pay an exponentially increasing rate of fees to retain the copyright. Trademarks, as a consumer protection, should just have a low, flat fee, on a fixed basis (with early renewal allowed).
- ekianjo 9y ago
  this increases regulations and favors the big players who have no issue footing the bills.

ekianjo 9y ago

14 years for software copyright? thats way too long especially since patents tend to be super broad these days.

da_chicken 9y ago
It very well may be, but I would tend towards being conservative with a first attempt at correction, and the current term is 120 years. Keep in mind, too, that copyright is what backs the GPL and other free software licences. You thought Tivoization was bad? If we set the expiration date to 5 years, then the 4.0 Linux kernel would be eligible for proprietary use by 2020.