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> The public benefit of a patent is that the information is public -- inventions which might previously have been kept secret are instead put into the light wh

> The public benefit of a patent is that the information is public -- inventions which might previously have been kept secret are instead put into the light where others may use them Can you come up with siginificant patented innovations that are not easy to reverse-engineer? I have thought that the raison d'etre of patents is to foster innovation.

jordigh 8y ago
I always mention the Michael Jackson smooth criminal patent. Is it easy to reverse-engineer? I don't know, it seems obvious once you see what it is, but it seems awfully clever if you don't know about it. A lot of people seem to believe that it would involve electromagnets, but the actual invention is more low-tech.
- matz1 8y ago
  Maybe it was hard back in the days but nowadays good luck trying to keep it secret.
- beefield 8y ago
  And how much our world would be a worse place if that innovation 1. Was kept secret 2. Had not been made in the first place? (I had the key word "significant" on purpose)