Creating A Global Patent System

prostoalex writes "May issue of MIT Technology Review discussed the implications of a globalized patent system. For small inventors, it argues, the cost of globalizing the rights for their invention are just unbearable. For example, in Europe it costs about $7,000 per country to file a patent application. As an article bonus, some people might like to take a look at the list of the largest patent holders per industry in PDF format."

Comments

Hmmm...

[skermit]

I've read a couple articles on patents and where they're going in the past two weeks. One takes a look at all the patents given in the US that don't and can NEVER be produced because they are physically impossible. The second article dealt with how the US government is INCREASING costs for patent filings because there's too much of a backlog as is, and they need more of an incentive to process current patents and to, wait for it..., DISCOURAGE new patents. *sigh*

Only global patents make sense

[Eric Ass Raymond]

What is the point of patenting something if the patent is not global?

Patent something domestically and someone in a country with cheap labour will copy your idea and outproduce you.