Patents are about to become a bigger problem
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Patents are about to become a bigger problem
1–10 of 55 posts
Re: Patents are about to become a bigger problem
#2I don't see how this isn't a bigger issue or hasn't been brought to light. As I understand it, large corporations (or anyone with the money, really) can simply file patents for future products they predict will come to market and then sue startups and entrepreneurs when they create the actual product.
Someone please tell me I'm misunderstanding this.
Re: Patents are about to become a bigger problem
#3I don't see how this isn't a bigger issue or hasn't been brought to light. As I understand it, large corporations (or anyone with the money, really) can simply file patents for future products they predict will come to market and then sue startups and entrepreneurs when they create the actual product. Someone please tell me I'm misunderstanding this.
yep, pretty much it.
The original idea of patents was along the lines: Person A develops a self propelled buggy moving with the speed faster than light. Without patent protection, there is a lot of incentive to keep the details of the technology secret. The patent protection would be awarded in exchange of him disclosing the details of the technology, thus enriching the human race's body of knowledge and furthering the technology advancement.
Modern day patent system - a Corporation A files a patent for the idea of a "self propelled buggy moving with the speed faster than light." Whoever comes with real implementation later, would be forced to pay license fee to the corporation or wouldn't be able to bring it to market. This is pretty much the innovation tax (though if a tax isn't extorted by a government then it is more correctly called extortion/racket).
Re: Patents are about to become a bigger problem
#4I don't see how this isn't a bigger issue or hasn't been brought to light. As I understand it, large corporations (or anyone with the money, really) can simply file patents for future products they predict will come to market and then sue startups and entrepreneurs when they create the actual product. Someone please tell me I'm misunderstanding this.
The key point is that "first to file" doesn't actually honor the idea of invention. It honors the idea of filing the patent first. So, now it's a race to file instead of invent. Perhaps the patent system has behaved this way for some time, but it's codified now.
From wikipedia: "In a first-to-file system, also called "first inventor to file" system, the right to the grant of a patent for a given invention lies with the first person (the first inventor(s)) to file a patent application for protection of that invention, regardless of the date of actual invention."
Re: Patents are about to become a bigger problem
#5What is the state of patent law, especially regarding software patents, across the world? If patents really are going to be a murder on innovation, then the least broken system should enjoy an advantage, no?
Re: Patents are about to become a bigger problem
#6It's hard to have a lot of hope for the United States.
Re: Patents are about to become a bigger problem
#7Now if they would combine expiration date with file date we'd be done.
The reasoning is fairly simple, patents expire and the idea becomes public domain, that is why, starting in 2015 as the great patent binge of late 90's starts expiring, through 2025, all of that 'crap' that you see as being patented will become public domain. Unlike copyright there will be no restriction on you using it. (like you can write your own RSA encryption code now without fear of being sued)
Also during that time there has been some progress made on getting better examiners into the office since we're starting to see examiners who actually used computers in high school versus the ones in 1995 who had just heard about them and never actually used one.
So you file as soon as you can, and if its a spurious filing you have exactly 20 years (if we could have them expire on file+20) to make the product work and to ship it with patent protection. Alternatively, we go back to a requirement that the invention must have an exemplar which the PTO can examine with the application. That however was originally eliminated because it was slowing everything down. (although some of the model work is simply stunning, check out the museum some time).
In the mean time I'm gonna watch all my old Star Trek episodes and file patents on all that stuff :-)
Re: Patents are about to become a bigger problem
#8What is the state of patent law, especially regarding software patents, across the world? If patents really are going to be a murder on innovation, then the least broken system should enjoy an advantage, no?
Keep in mind that the standard for "First to File" is actually present in much of the rest of the world. Large US corporations have argued that this switch will make our companies more competitive. What's happened is that American companies see a unified global patent system eventually taking hold and they want to use their resource advantage to dominate a future marketplace. They're primarily concerned with establishing market leadership lock in. Innovation as a desired outcome for the advancement of mankind couldn't be further from their thought process.
Re: Patents are about to become a bigger problem
#9I don't see how this isn't a bigger issue or hasn't been brought to light. As I understand it, large corporations (or anyone with the money, really) can simply file patents for future products they predict will come to market and then sue startups and entrepreneurs when they create the actual product. Someone please tell me I'm misunderstanding this.
In theory, a patent is supposed to be specific enough that the patent itself accurately describes the object, to the extent that a reasonably knowledgeable person could actually manufacture the object using only the patent as a blueprint. In other words, you would not be able to write the patent application unless you had actually invented the object in question, because otherwise you wouldn't know how to describe the theoretical object well enough for a person to manufacture it. Therefore you cannot patent imaginary future inventions.
In practice, this rule is effective only to the extent that the Patent Office enforces it.
Re: Patents are about to become a bigger problem
#10I've often wondered what's the commercial and political mechanism that controls patent legislation and the lifetime of a patent. I mean, we're still at a mere 17 years with patents but Mickey Mouse is at roughly 95 years by now. Why is it worth lobbying for copyright extensions but not patent lifetime extensions?