3 ms·
The patent system is clearly broken. Case in point the drug industry where derivative, "me too" drugs get through a system, and they are clearly not innovative.
by bbgm 18y ago
The patent system is clearly broken. Case in point the drug industry where derivative, "me too" drugs get through a system, and they are clearly not innovative. Plus some patents are so broad that they completely stiffle innovation.
Patents, per se, are not necessarily bad, but the current system is so flawed, it likely hinders innovation rather than helps. I've been in situations where someone came up with something very interesting but there was the possibility of patent infringement due to some broad patent, so you had to either license the technology) or reimplement.
- DabAsteroid 18y agoI've been in situations where someone came up with something very interesting but there was the possibility of patent infringement due to some broad patent, so you had to either license the technology) or reimplement. No. If one can improve upon an existing patent, one can potentially collect royalties on that improvement. http://www.nolo.com/article.cfm/objectId/EFF260E8-76BA-438A-80A7546BC09CA8F0/catID/2D212B35-B211-4FD4-B46D84A00C15CEBF/310/101/134/ART/ http://www.nolo.com/article.cfm/objectId/EFF260E8-76BA-438A-... You can also get an improvement patent for an innovation that provides a new use for an existing invention. A party leveraging the improvement would then simply pay royalties to both the holders of the old broad, and the new less-broad, patents.
- bbgm 18y agoAgreed, but the situation was a little different. We licensed software from academics, and during integration you'd find there were methods that seemingly ran afoul of an obscure patent, etc. These were not improvements (just general algorithms)