3 ms·

How come there are so many patents and yet as a consumer I see zero inventions I'd regard as patent-worthy?

• praveen9920 1y ago
  Patents are mostly theoretical.. they are done by researchers in companies. Companies consider them as assets and holds them which sometimes increases valuation of company itself. This does not mean they want to spend money into building that may not bring them business in near future. Best example is car companies. I heard from one of the employee that they already have research and patents to build more efficient cars but the production of those are delayed for getting the value for the research done.
  • Joel_Mckay 1y ago
    "Patents are mostly theoretical" Not really, one often needs to prove how the innovation works even if algorithmic (for example a gene sequence identifying itself was justifiable for many companies, and proved they weren't making stuff up.) Patents sound vague on purpose, but I assure you real money and mountains of expensive studies were done prior to publishing any claims. =3
• Joel_Mckay 1y ago
  Patents at one time were a way of sharing technology while still compensating the inventors, and licenses were fairly easy to source. The majority of modern patents are the equivalent of Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPP), and if you want rounded corners on a phone that will be $23m + 7% of retail sales. This is why some people have gadgets from 10 years in the future, and others get toys from 17 years in the past. Ask yourself who has a spare $140k to file global patent these days... the list has shrunk. =3 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Competitive_exclusion_principle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Competitive_exclusion_principl...