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Patents have always been about encouraging public disclosure of secrets. ... The monopoly is the tool of patent law. But the purpose of patent law is disclosure
by philipkglass 7y ago
Patents have always been about encouraging public disclosure of secrets. ... The monopoly is the tool of patent law. But the purpose of patent law is disclosure of information.
I like that formulation. But in that case we shouldn't be granting patents on things that can be immediately (or even within 5 years) reverse engineered from working examples.
- jacobwilliamroy 7y agoI genuinely like that idea. We should change the patent approval process work like an episode of penn&teller's "Fool Us", where the patent office has to guess what your patent is, before reviewing it. If the patent office is right, rejection; wrong, approval. We could televise it and subsidise the whole thing with advertising revenue. This is not a joke.
- pbhjpbhj 7y agoAre you suggesting you have to make an example, so if I design a new rocket engine I have to have 10s of millions of $$$ to spend on making one before you'll give me a patent, and then you might decide it was obvious? And I have to disclose it in public prior to getting protection? Are you sure that's not a joke.