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"forbidding patent trolling by requiring the patentee to produce the patented invention within a specified period, or lose the patent" That bit is, I think, is

"forbidding patent trolling by requiring the patentee to produce the patented invention within a specified period, or lose the patent" That bit is, I think, is the key to unravel whole patents issue. The other day I was wondering why it was that, somehow, I considered some patents valid and others invalid. For example, I consider many codecs (DivX, JPEG) to be valid patents, but consider patents on certain algorithms to be invalid. Weird, huh? Because codecs are just a specialized algorithm. I just couldn't put my finger to it. And then it hit me: all the patents I considered valid were actual products. DivX and JPEG were patented, implemented and licensed. The codecs themselves provided a leap in technology, and without that particular codec the product wouldn't exist at all. The patents I considered invalid are either bells and whistles or lack a real implementation. In other words, the creators of DivX and JPEG were making real money by developing and marketing a new technology, whereas Apple (just using the example du jour, please spare me the faboyisms) is trying to shut down competing products by just pointing at a tiny feature and screaming "COPYCAT! COPYCAT!". The day Apple shows that it's the rounded corners in the iPad that is making them money, and not the fact that they developed a really thin tablet with great battery life and a decent OS, I might reconsider.

ZeroGravitas 14y ago
Aren't those two very weird examples? Jpeg is mostly free to use and no one uses the bit that isn't. Divx is just a proprietary twist on mpeg standards that got famous on the back of piracy. And the standard itself was considered a bit crappy in both technical and licence terms and might not have succeeded at all if not pushed by an industry cartel.
adestefan 14y ago
You're confusing a patent and a design patent. The rounded corners on an iPad is a design patent. It's more like a copyright for a physical object and is completely different than a patent.

ZeroGravitas 14y ago

Aren't those two very weird examples? Jpeg is mostly free to use and no one uses the bit that isn't. Divx is just a proprietary twist on mpeg standards that got famous on the back of piracy. And the standard itself was considered a bit crappy in both technical and licence terms and might not have succeeded at all if not pushed by an industry cartel.

adestefan 14y ago

You're confusing a patent and a design patent. The rounded corners on an iPad is a design patent. It's more like a copyright for a physical object and is completely different than a patent.