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Wow, I wasn't aware of this future tech patent-sitting thing. It's awful to think that this is possible. Does it really happen? Do you have any examples? How f

Wow, I wasn't aware of this future tech patent-sitting thing. It's awful to think that this is possible. Does it really happen? Do you have any examples? How far can you take this? Does a patent have to be based in something that is vaguely implementable or can it literally just be a theoretical idea without concrete, detailed implementation specifics? I.e. could one patent things like the 'holodeck' idea today, and just wait around 50 years for it to get made, then cash in, or would that just be too ridiculous?

Sebb767 8y ago
The lawsuit about Bluetooth comes to mind: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/01/06/broadcom_csr_bluetooth_lawsuit/ https://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/01/06/broadcom_csr_blueto...
jandrese 8y ago
Doing email on a phone[1] is the first example that comes to mind. Wasn't really possible with AMPS but they patented it anyway. The problem of course is that even after pulling all of the tricks to extend the life of your patent (extensions during filing, submarine patents, etc...), there is a hard time limit that you run into. If you're too ambitious the patents expire before the technology catches up and you get nothing. [1] https://spectrum.ieee.org/consumer-electronics/gadgets/the-story-behind-the-blackberry-case https://spectrum.ieee.org/consumer-electronics/gadgets/the-s...