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Ideas are global though, and the patent system isn't. In order to turn a patent in to a literal recipe for a competing product all you have to do is step out o
by contingencies 6y ago
Ideas are global though, and the patent system isn't.
In order to turn a patent in to a literal recipe for a competing product all you have to do is step out of a registered jurisdiction.
So people who actually come up with something meaningful have the financial burden of registering in numerous major jurisdictions at a minimum.
However, each comes with its own quirks, costs, and processes, some of which can be slower (eg. Japan) or qualitatively different (actual novelty checks performed vs. only cursory inspection) and thus vary from verging on legally dubious (more like "option to expend lawyers on creating problems for competitors in the future" than actual patent) to total lockdown.
It's a mess. Mostly it only keeps patent lawyers in business. We need to get rid of it.
- rektide 6y agoweird juxtaposition of arguments. you start by arguing that one system's rules aren't relevant when there are many jurisdictions. then you talk about each jurisdiction having very unique flavors & characters to them. the favt that the uspto governs such a vast share of products-sold carries a lot of weight. I tend to think increasing the cost of patents is a silly idea, because right now they cost nearly nothing if you file & do the reject/re-apply dance yourself (and know how to). unless we the people are going to start charging billions for good ideas being monopolized, I tend towards a fair reasonable & non-discriminatory access model for all ideas, with a depreciating over time scale. i'd rather open the closed system than try to find the right price for it. but either way, I think the uspto & Congress has a lot of power to fix this practically free hand out that ongoingly locks down this world & obstructs progress time & time again.
- contingencies 6y agoIf we begin with the unspoken assumption that the system is supposed to be useful, then it's effectively dead in the water because ideas aren't under national jurisdictions. I think this "weird juxtaposition" is the innate problem with the status quo.
- mschuster91 6y ago> In order to turn a patent in to a literal recipe for a competing product all you have to do is step out of a registered jurisdiction. When you have a registered patent in the USA and the EU, there is no real alternative market for competition except India and China - because both the US and EU will reject any import of a patent-violating product.
- contingencies 6y agoWell those are some big generalizations. Objectively, USA and EU are neither the largest and certainly not the fastest growing markets for many products. In other words: even if that is true - who cares? Also, traditionally Japan is considered a major developed world market by patent law.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]