4 ms·

Patents should be abolished.

by bborud 4y ago

nocoiner 4y ago
My immediate naive reaction is that a world where everything is perpetually protected as a trade secret might be a worse one than we have now. Though certainly our current system has plenty of faults.
- dns_snek 4y ago
  How do trade secrets in any way relate to patents, especially in this case? Any feature or design of a consumer product is by definition not a trade secret because it's known to the public. A world where everything is "protected" as a trade secret would be preferable since trade secrets can be lawfully reverse engineered. They are only useful for things that you can meaningfully keep secret which is a tiny subset of ideas that are currently protected by patents, especially in egregious cases of patent trolling.
- Doxin 4y ago
  The problem we currently seem to be having is companies patenting things you can't possibly protect as a trade secret. Having one volume control for multiple devices is entirely obvious as soon as you run into the problem it solves.
- bborud 4y ago
  This supposes that figuring out how something is done is a bottleneck today. It isn't. It also supposes that figuring out how stuff is done is a bigger hurdle than the problems patents present to innovators. It isn't. For patents to make sense we also have to ignore how they are used. Patents are used as mine fields around incumbents to keep challengers out. They are also used by parasitic companies who don't actually make anything as a legal form of extortion. Yes, it is indeed naive to ignore reality and buy into the fantasy that patents contribute to society or in any way level the playing field. They do neither.
mansion7 4y ago
China is hard at work on making this dream a reality, along with all forms of intellectual property!
- monkeydreams 4y ago
  This is what emerging economies do. The US did it to England. China is doing it to the US.
  - bborud 4y ago
    Believing that this is somehow about nations is misguided. It is about incumbents and political power. As soon as businesses reach the size and power where they have direct influence over politics, they will seek to stifle innovation to curb competition. The result is ever tightening IPR laws and a landscape that tilts in favor of those with money to wield the laws as a weapon. (Meaning that a patent isn't worth more than the war chest for litigation, so if you are a small fish owning patents: I'm sorry, but it doesn't really matter). It has nothing to do with nations. It is far more general than that.

Patents should be abolished.

by bborud 4y ago

Patents should be abolished.

My immediate naive reaction is that a world where everything is perpetually protected as a trade secret might be a worse one than we have now. Though certainly our current system has plenty of faults.

dns_snek 4y ago
How do trade secrets in any way relate to patents, especially in this case? Any feature or design of a consumer product is by definition not a trade secret because it's known to the public. A world where everything is "protected" as a trade secret would be preferable since trade secrets can be lawfully reverse engineered. They are only useful for things that you can meaningfully keep secret which is a tiny subset of ideas that are currently protected by patents, especially in egregious cases of patent trolling.
Doxin 4y ago
The problem we currently seem to be having is companies patenting things you can't possibly protect as a trade secret. Having one volume control for multiple devices is entirely obvious as soon as you run into the problem it solves.
bborud 4y ago
This supposes that figuring out how something is done is a bottleneck today. It isn't. It also supposes that figuring out how stuff is done is a bigger hurdle than the problems patents present to innovators. It isn't. For patents to make sense we also have to ignore how they are used. Patents are used as mine fields around incumbents to keep challengers out. They are also used by parasitic companies who don't actually make anything as a legal form of extortion. Yes, it is indeed naive to ignore reality and buy into the fantasy that patents contribute to society or in any way level the playing field. They do neither.

mansion7 4y ago

China is hard at work on making this dream a reality, along with all forms of intellectual property!

monkeydreams 4y ago
This is what emerging economies do. The US did it to England. China is doing it to the US.
- bborud 4y ago
  Believing that this is somehow about nations is misguided. It is about incumbents and political power. As soon as businesses reach the size and power where they have direct influence over politics, they will seek to stifle innovation to curb competition. The result is ever tightening IPR laws and a landscape that tilts in favor of those with money to wield the laws as a weapon. (Meaning that a patent isn't worth more than the war chest for litigation, so if you are a small fish owning patents: I'm sorry, but it doesn't really matter). It has nothing to do with nations. It is far more general than that.