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But those of us who think the entire idea of "patentability" is a joke in and of itself. All these fuzzy lines behind this "who invented what" is a major reaso
by snowfarthing 2y ago
But those of us who think the entire idea of "patentability" is a joke in and of itself.
All these fuzzy lines behind this "who invented what" is a major reason I consider patents to be evil -- the entire system sets up artificial and harmful barriers keeping ideas from fertilizing each other and growing beyond our wildest imaginations.
(And as someone who strongly dislikes all things Apple -- but not quite as much as all things Windows -- I cannot help but observe that both Apple and Microsoft simultaneously deserve both more and less acknowledgement, all depending on how one looks at things, for their inventiveness).
- Aloisius 2y agoThe alternative isn't some utopian free sharing of inventions. The alternative is tightly held trade secrets and lots of inventions dying with their inventors. We had this system for most of human history. It sucked. A decade and a half of exclusivity is a fair trade to avoid it.
- vlovich123 2y agoSoftware patents maybe shouldn’t exist as it didn’t for a very long time. Indeed, the way patents are actually written for software ends up with a convoluted mess trying to remain as generic as possible to cover all possible extensions of a core idea (and you can’t patent ideas). So while patents show a benefit, it’s pretty clear the current system in the US has a lot of flaws that need attention.