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Have you researched the history of patents? I'm no expert, but my understanding is that they were established in response to the guild system, in which a lot o

Have you researched the history of patents? I'm no expert, but my understanding is that they were established in response to the guild system, in which a lot of technical knowledge was kept secret. Invention may have been occurring, but it didn't benefit the larger society the way it could have.

toasterlovin 14y ago
As far as I am aware, there is no compulsory license in the United States patent system, so while patents aren't more restrictive of the _spread_ of technical knowledge, they certainly could prevent the _use_ of technical knowledge. So, like, what's the point? Seems like a lacking solution to the problem you propose. Also, I am skeptical that guilds were historically the major impediment to the spread of technical knowledge. After all, once ideas are lodged in your mind, nobody can unlodge them, whether by force or persuasion, not even your own self. I would look instead to the historically enormously high cost of travel and book printing. Since people and books are the carriers of ideas (historically, at least; now we have the Internet), this seems like a more direct explanation.
belorn 14y ago
One legal theory behind patents is that they were a tool to incentivize immigration. It benefited the United States even before it was the United States, as people was encouraging to stay in the country during the duration of exclusivity, and gave the country a working model of the invention so people could learn. Before patents, many invention was treated as city or state secret. I can recommend a very interesting talk by Professor Eben Moglen, who teach law history and actually read discussions that happened between the people who wrote and worked with the first implementation of the US patent law (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPzpBn-XGxw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPzpBn-XGxw).

toasterlovin 14y ago

As far as I am aware, there is no compulsory license in the United States patent system, so while patents aren't more restrictive of the _spread_ of technical knowledge, they certainly could prevent the _use_ of technical knowledge. So, like, what's the point? Seems like a lacking solution to the problem you propose. Also, I am skeptical that guilds were historically the major impediment to the spread of technical knowledge. After all, once ideas are lodged in your mind, nobody can unlodge them, whether by force or persuasion, not even your own self. I would look instead to the historically enormously high cost of travel and book printing. Since people and books are the carriers of ideas (historically, at least; now we have the Internet), this seems like a more direct explanation.

belorn 14y ago

One legal theory behind patents is that they were a tool to incentivize immigration. It benefited the United States even before it was the United States, as people was encouraging to stay in the country during the duration of exclusivity, and gave the country a working model of the invention so people could learn. Before patents, many invention was treated as city or state secret. I can recommend a very interesting talk by Professor Eben Moglen, who teach law history and actually read discussions that happened between the people who wrote and worked with the first implementation of the US patent law (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPzpBn-XGxw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPzpBn-XGxw).