Slashdot Mirror
'Patently Ridiculous' - What's Wrong With The PTO
PhxBlue writes "The St. Petersburg (FL) Times wrote an editorial this morning lambasting a patent system which allows patents for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and swinging sideways. It has some background on how the patent system became as FUBARed as it is, citing rulings by the Supreme Court in 1980 and by the federal patent appeals court in 1998; but more importantly, it brings the faults with the US patent process to a more public eye."
Speaking of ridiculous patents let us not forget the esteemed Australian gentleman who patented the wheel!
To the APO's credit they did retract the patent...
-ghostis
Computer Science is all about trying to find the right wrench to bang in the right screw. -T.Cumbo?
There are many indicators throughout history that have shown that patents and greedy people behind those patents have actually inhibited the progress of our society and culture.
Take for example Tesla. Without the many inventions he created, all patentless, we would be in dire straits indeed. He did not believe in making money from his inventions.
By patenting everything on the face of the earth, you increase cost, piracy/theft rates, and you effectively remove certain technologies from lower income households. Finally, it stagnates the future of that invention, because it cannot be used and matured without paying fee upon fee.
take the space out of the link and it works fine.
The ______ Agenda
The US patent system as it stands today is a system by which innovations are registered by the government with little or no background check. These innovation registrations are then challenged in court by those with competing interests. The problem with this system is that during the registration process it is assumed that the courts will check the validity of the patent, and during the court process it is assumed the patent office checked its validity. It takes a large deal of financial backing to challenge a patent in court, and a relatively small amount of money to obtain a patent. Thus, it is financially advantageous to file BS patents, and equally advantageous to settle with those companies who wield them.
I'm glad to see another site reporting on the issue, but I fail to see how this has changed since 1989.
The ______ Agenda
The US Patent Office has a page on "What can be Patented"
Some interesting excerpts for those to lazy to click through:
"...any person who 'invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent,' subject to the conditions and requirements of the law."
The patent law specifies that the subject matter must be "useful."
"... patent cannot be obtained upon a mere idea or suggestion. The patent is granted upon the new machine, manufacture, etc..."
I see the patent system being to ideas much the same as I see the domain name registrar being a party to one set of people who tie up the works so nobody else can do anything until they get paid. An anology is having the kids race to the playground during recess, only to claim the various objects of play and charge a fee for their use. Although this paradigm doesn't really work in school, it works very profitably in the corporate world.
Say, I had a design for a solar powered air conditioner using an Absorption Process using Lithium Bromide as a refrigerant. Now, by dropping the pressure, I can get LiBr to boil at 90 deg. F , separate the water from the brine, cool both using the swimming pool water as a heat sink, then recombine both streams in the house so as to put the condenser at around 40 deg F. This will allow me to cool the house to about 70 deg F on a hot day. Now, if I actually released this design, do you think I will have problems?
Of course I will.
I think there is even a way I can do it with Ammonium Nitrate with a little less efficiency. The neat thing about Ammonium Nitrate is that it is also useful as fertilizer, so that if there is any reason to ever have to purge the refrigerant, the grass would love it.
Ever seen those cold packs that consist of two pouches of liquid which get very cold when you mix them... and are typically used in first aid kits for injured athletes? Probably Ammonium Nitrate. If you have access to a fertilizer store, buy some and try it. Put some ammonium nitrate in a bucket, add water. See how cold it gets. Now imagine if you were pulling a vacuum on it and imagine what it would be like if you could boil it back apart at about 90 deg F or so, and endlessly recombine it in your house. You get the idea.
Don,t worry about the stuff after you've done your experiment... its great fertilizer. Your lawn will love you. Just don't put too much in one place.
But am I free to actually pursue this curiosity as a commmercial endeavor to share with the world?
I would quickly lose all my capital in litigation. I can not afford that.
So my research is just for me, not for the world.
We are not in a position yet to where such research, conducted by individuals, is of such importance as to threaten corporate holdings, where such distribution of technology outside their control, could economically harm them.
They have the money it takes to control Law, and that, quite simply, is the bottom line.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]