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Exactly, the whole point of patents is to avoid trade secrets. Trade secrets create much worse monopolies than the existing patent system could ever create, sin
by solinent 7y ago
Exactly, the whole point of patents is to avoid trade secrets. Trade secrets create much worse monopolies than the existing patent system could ever create, since their length is indeterminate. It's also hard to evaluate the ethics of a product directly without knowing its machinery.
- thayne 7y ago> since their length is indeterminate in the software world 20 years is almost as bad. by the time the patent expires the patented algorithm may no longer be relevant