3 ms·

Don't forget patents. You yourself can create whatever you want, but the second you want to sell it you have to have a patent law firm scour over everything, pa

Don't forget patents. You yourself can create whatever you want, but the second you want to sell it you have to have a patent law firm scour over everything, pay dozens of companies, get rejected by others, and end up having to entirely redesign your product in an inefficient manner because some dipstick owns a patent they just sit on. If we abolish patents innovation will finally be possible.

big_curses 5y ago
Why abolish patents rather than just fix their implementation? Patents are very important. Without them, incentive to bring things to market falls as all your hard work of designing and creating something can just immediately be taken and reused by others. This encourages everyone to sit around and wait for others to make something first, and then punishes the one who does. Why not instead rework patents so that they have to be used continuously to be upheld or increase the stringency of that aspect of them?
- burnished 5y ago
  Is there any evidence that this argument is true? It sort of ignores the fact that people do invent, and frequently, almost as a byproduct of being alive. Plus the constant litigation around patents seems to add more friction to the process, preventing people who would materially contribute to the common good by tinkering and inventing.
- Kosirich 5y ago
  Is 20 years a bit much though?
  - imtringued 5y ago
    I get to see patents expire in my lifetime, that is good enough.
ornornor 5y ago
3D printers are a good example that I recently came across. There is a patent for a 3D printer enclosed in a box. A number of plastics print much better when in an enclosure with no drafts and more easily controllable temperatures. But instead, 3D printers must be sold and function on their own without a box, to avoid the patent. Enclosures are then sold separately and you end up with a 3D printer in an enclosure anyway, but that doesn’t infringe on the patent… so it’s allowed.
- _def 5y ago
  And also FDM/FFF in general, which has been around since the 90s.
- jacobolus 5y ago
  > 3D printer enclosed in a box [...] instead [...] I assume you are talking about this Stratasys patent that expired earlier this year, https://patents.google.com/patent/US6722872 https://patents.google.com/patent/US6722872 > 1. A three-dimensional modeling apparatus comprising a heated build chamber in which three-dimensional objects are built, a base located in the build chamber, a dispensing head for dispensing modeling material onto the base, the dispensing head having a modeling material dispensing outlet inside of the build chamber, and an x-y-z gantry coupled to the dispensing head and to the base for generating relative movement in three-dimensions between the dispensing head and the base, characterized in that: the x-y-z gantry is located external to the build chamber and is separated from the chamber by a deformable thermal insulator. [...]
  - ornornor 5y ago
    Yes that’s the one. I wasn’t aware it expired this year but that’s good news!

big_curses 5y ago

Why abolish patents rather than just fix their implementation? Patents are very important. Without them, incentive to bring things to market falls as all your hard work of designing and creating something can just immediately be taken and reused by others. This encourages everyone to sit around and wait for others to make something first, and then punishes the one who does. Why not instead rework patents so that they have to be used continuously to be upheld or increase the stringency of that aspect of them?

burnished 5y ago
Is there any evidence that this argument is true? It sort of ignores the fact that people do invent, and frequently, almost as a byproduct of being alive. Plus the constant litigation around patents seems to add more friction to the process, preventing people who would materially contribute to the common good by tinkering and inventing.
Kosirich 5y ago
Is 20 years a bit much though?
- imtringued 5y ago
  I get to see patents expire in my lifetime, that is good enough.

ornornor 5y ago

3D printers are a good example that I recently came across. There is a patent for a 3D printer enclosed in a box. A number of plastics print much better when in an enclosure with no drafts and more easily controllable temperatures. But instead, 3D printers must be sold and function on their own without a box, to avoid the patent. Enclosures are then sold separately and you end up with a 3D printer in an enclosure anyway, but that doesn’t infringe on the patent… so it’s allowed.

_def 5y ago
And also FDM/FFF in general, which has been around since the 90s.
jacobolus 5y ago
> 3D printer enclosed in a box [...] instead [...] I assume you are talking about this Stratasys patent that expired earlier this year, https://patents.google.com/patent/US6722872 https://patents.google.com/patent/US6722872 > 1. A three-dimensional modeling apparatus comprising a heated build chamber in which three-dimensional objects are built, a base located in the build chamber, a dispensing head for dispensing modeling material onto the base, the dispensing head having a modeling material dispensing outlet inside of the build chamber, and an x-y-z gantry coupled to the dispensing head and to the base for generating relative movement in three-dimensions between the dispensing head and the base, characterized in that: the x-y-z gantry is located external to the build chamber and is separated from the chamber by a deformable thermal insulator. [...]
- ornornor 5y ago
  Yes that’s the one. I wasn’t aware it expired this year but that’s good news!