3 ms·
Would the patent system be better and less trolly if you were legally required to produce whatever you patent?
by WilliamEdward 8y ago
Would the patent system be better and less trolly if you were legally required to produce whatever you patent?
- brianwawok 8y agoHow many units? 1? 1000? Could IBM make 1000 drones with a coffee cup attached?
- mars4rp 8y agomaybe at least a prototype and expires after 2 years if you haven't commercialized it!
- joshuagross 8y agoThey would play around with the definition of "commercialized". "Technically we offered it on sale for $500,000; nobody buys it so we've never made one, but it's still on the market!"
- Retra 8y agoNo, that would ensure only people with the means to produce things could secure patent rights to their inventions.
- ryanmarsh 8y agoIn the law we have the concept of "commercially reasonable efforts". Therefore we could in fact have a law which requires ongoing commercially reasonable efforts to manufacture and market the invention. This would empower a company who wanted the use a dormant/squatted patent with cause for action. In such a situation IBM would either have to make such an obvious go of it that nobody would waste the time attempting to prove a lack of commercially reasonable effort (subjectively interpreted by the courts), IBM could play act like they're making a reasonable effort and roll the dice in court, or relinquish the claim. In IBM's case, is producing 1,000 units just to prove commercially reasonable effort sufficient? The GOOD thing about the subjectivity of "commercially reasonable effort" in the law is that one could argue 1,000 units is not enough for a company with the resources of IBM.