3 ms·
Patents can in fact work that way in practice. Generally speaking the art of the patent is to describe the technique in as broad a way as possible as to cover a
by rcxdude 3y ago
Patents can in fact work that way in practice. Generally speaking the art of the patent is to describe the technique in as broad a way as possible as to cover any possible way to accomplish anything similar while avoiding as many important details needed to actually accomplish the goal as possible. That way the patent is useless for anyone who wants to solve the problem but very useful for you to go after anyone who manages to figure it out on their own.
- toss1 3y agoThat is indeed the current practice, but it is the opposite of the original intent of patent concept. The idea was to grant a temporary monopoly in exchange to revealing the technique — it was supposed to advance technology faster. The standard was (and AFAIK, still is) that the technique or technology must be revealed in sufficient detail that it can be reproduced "by a skilled practitioner in the field without undue experimentation". Of course, that was at a time when technological progress was much slower, and less transnational.
- rcxdude 3y agoyeah, there's a pretty wide gulf between patents in practice and their original intent, alas.