Mark Cuban: If you want to see more jobs created -- change patent laws • Hacker News Board

Re: Mark Cuban: If you want to see more jobs created -- change patent laws

#31

Post by Cushman » Sun, Aug 07, 2011, 3:43 AM UTC

I like this idea. We've grown too attached to the notion of "intellectual property", thinking of ideas as things you can own. We should get back to the purpose of IP: subsidizing the creation of new information, which by nature belongs to no one but benefits everyone, with a limited monopoly on its reproduction. If you aren't using your monopoly, then no one is benefiting, and you shouldn't have it.

Re: Mark Cuban: If you want to see more jobs created -- change patent laws

#32

Post by jonmc12 » Sun, Aug 07, 2011, 3:44 AM UTC

Really, we should be free to invent. Option B should be that if an inventor can show a clean history of evolving an idea, it should be allowed to freely enter the market.

Ideas evolve over time, and the originate from something. Perhaps if inventors were willing to register their invention documents through a set of steps mapping to something like the Technology Readiness Level (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technology_readiness_level), then they could be eligible for immunity against patent based litigation.

But lets say this certified patent wants to protect its IP on the market through litigation. In this case, the inventor could first request certification of the invention in question before any further legal action occurred.

If we could create a certification process that is less than $2000 or so (about the cost of a provisional patent including attorney fees), it seems feasible. This system would seek to encourage a regulated invention process that filters new inventions from even being eligible for litigation. This allows for inventor insurance in a sense - keeping a capped cost for protecting certifiably original ideas while encouraging original invention and discouraging the incentive behind patent lawsuits.

Re: Mark Cuban: If you want to see more jobs created -- change patent laws

#33

Post by troyastorino » Sun, Aug 07, 2011, 3:44 AM UTC

If software patents were abolished, companies could still have protection for their software on the basis of copyright law. Copyright owners have the right to control distribution and adaptation, which would cover the legitimate intellectual property rights that companies should have over their software, and could eliminate the frivolous patent suits that are such a waste of resources. This of course would depend on what early cases would establish as a basis for what counts as copyright infringement, but hopefully it could be interpreted in a narrow enough fashion to provide protection for people's software while eliminating the threat of baseless suits.

Re: Mark Cuban: If you want to see more jobs created -- change patent laws

#34

Post by daniel-cussen » Sun, Aug 07, 2011, 3:45 AM UTC

One could make a wiki so that programmers can challenge new patents (usually coming up with prior art) in their spare time.

Re: Mark Cuban: If you want to see more jobs created -- change patent laws

#35

Post by Cushman » Sun, Aug 07, 2011, 3:45 AM UTC

I love the idea of a "show your work" patent system, but could it possibly work in real life? Does anyone do anything like this currently?

Re: Mark Cuban: If you want to see more jobs created -- change patent laws

#36

Post by KeithMajhor » Sun, Aug 07, 2011, 3:49 AM UTC

No. If a job is unnecessary then it shouldn't be done. The fact that people need to have jobs, even jobs which create no value, is a systemic failure.

Re: Mark Cuban: If you want to see more jobs created -- change patent laws

#37

Post by WalterBright » Sun, Aug 07, 2011, 3:57 AM UTC

B. Reduce the term of patents to, say, 5 years instead of 20.

Re: Mark Cuban: If you want to see more jobs created -- change patent laws

#38

Post by nhebb » Sun, Aug 07, 2011, 3:58 AM UTC

B) Shorten the term of patents for software. IIRC, the current term in the US is 20 years - basically the lifespan of the internet to date. Software innovation turns much faster than that. A patent term of 5 years would allow serious patent filers to capitalize on the R&D, while providing too short of a term for patent trolls to get a return on investment when acquiring mass amounts of patents.

Re: Mark Cuban: If you want to see more jobs created -- change patent laws

#39

Post by jayzee » Sun, Aug 07, 2011, 4:03 AM UTC

My Plan B: Only one parameter is changed, everything else stays the same.

The parameter that is changed is how long the patent lasts. And that is determined by the pace of innovation ("number of patents / yr") being awarded in that category. The more patents in software the shorter the duration of patents in this category.

Re: Mark Cuban: If you want to see more jobs created -- change patent laws

#40

Post by danielharan » Sun, Aug 07, 2011, 4:03 AM UTC

I actually agree with you.

What I was asking was: if you change Cuban's argument from "If you want to see more jobs created – change patent laws" to "If you want to see more prosperity created – change patent laws", would you agree?