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Perfect. The system won't get fixed until someone uses it to the full extent. Lets remember that it is big corporations that lobby for the kind of patent and I

Perfect. The system won't get fixed until someone uses it to the full extent. Lets remember that it is big corporations that lobby for the kind of patent and IP law that makes this possible. On top of that, you have the over loaded patent office assuming bad patents will get sorted out in court. While at the same time judges assume that if a patent was granted it was legit. To fix the system, you have to break it first. Perfect.

rudyfink 18y ago
I hope your logic does not also apply to representative government :-/
- ryanwaggoner 18y ago
  Reminds me of a quote by Thomas Jefferson...something about the tree of liberty :-)
- biohacker42 18y ago
  Sadly it kind of does. It's surprising just how many governments have followed the same pattern. First they grow and grow and grow. Reform is occasional and minor (at best), eventually they get so big and bad that a crisis forces real change. The state is then transformed into a lean mean productive machine. Which starts to grow slowly and the process repeats. Of the top of my head I can think of Sweden, where a crisis forced massive reform and now it's almost ready for a crisis again. And Great Britain in the 1970, crisis -> Thatcher -> prosperity -> growing government -> less prosperity -> coming crisis. Guess where the US is in that cycle.
  - andyjenn 18y ago
    Interesting to see how that follows the cost of a barrel of crude oil.. roughly
Harkins 18y ago
The problem with "fixing" the problem is that his company now has a huge stake in the system not changing, or at least in not loosening restrictions. Now that the company has extracted so much money from other companies, it can very effectively lobby Congress to ensure that the patent system doesn't undermine his business model. It's now self-perpetuating. Look at some of Lessig's videos on Change Congress; he's talked about how Congress, while restructuring and changing regulation on the telecom industry in the 90s, was careful to ensure that what was left over would be able to contribute to re-election campaigns.
- gojomo 18y ago
  See also: Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac.

rudyfink 18y ago

I hope your logic does not also apply to representative government :-/

ryanwaggoner 18y ago
Reminds me of a quote by Thomas Jefferson...something about the tree of liberty :-)
biohacker42 18y ago
Sadly it kind of does. It's surprising just how many governments have followed the same pattern. First they grow and grow and grow. Reform is occasional and minor (at best), eventually they get so big and bad that a crisis forces real change. The state is then transformed into a lean mean productive machine. Which starts to grow slowly and the process repeats. Of the top of my head I can think of Sweden, where a crisis forced massive reform and now it's almost ready for a crisis again. And Great Britain in the 1970, crisis -> Thatcher -> prosperity -> growing government -> less prosperity -> coming crisis. Guess where the US is in that cycle.
- andyjenn 18y ago
  Interesting to see how that follows the cost of a barrel of crude oil.. roughly

Harkins 18y ago

The problem with "fixing" the problem is that his company now has a huge stake in the system not changing, or at least in not loosening restrictions. Now that the company has extracted so much money from other companies, it can very effectively lobby Congress to ensure that the patent system doesn't undermine his business model. It's now self-perpetuating. Look at some of Lessig's videos on Change Congress; he's talked about how Congress, while restructuring and changing regulation on the telecom industry in the 90s, was careful to ensure that what was left over would be able to contribute to re-election campaigns.

gojomo 18y ago
See also: Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac.