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Creating A Global Patent System

Posted by timothy on from the gotta-snatch-'em-up dept.

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."

4 of 172 comments (clear)

  1. A note of caution by Jonin893 · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Patents are a tricky thing. While it is important for inventors and whatnot to get credit for their work, I think that for some things the patent system inhibits growth. With music, for example, there is a limit to what can be "created" because really, the permutations of notes is already pre-determined. There are only 88 keys on a piano. While there are many possibilities for, say, a 3 min. tune, it is a finite number. Assume most of those permutations will not sound very good, and a very large portion will sound almost identical, changing one or two notes of a song doesn't make it different enough to pass a patent check.

    There's a reason many artists are forced to sample old songs, there's not as much new stuff out there. Wagner's "Ring" alone runs 21 hours. You could play every note of every beatles song in a row and still be done in 6 hours or something like that. Today's composers are coming up with far less then their predecessors. We need to be careful not to extend the copyrights to the point where we are left with nothing new.

    Eventually, the infinite monkeys at infinite typewriters will start writing the same things.

  2. Come on, the answer's patently obvious... by cliveholloway · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Probably. But Me? I got no idea, just wanted to show off my vocabulary whilst slightly drunk...

    "And what do you mean by demagoguery?"
    "By demagoguery, I mean demagoguery"
    - Fry & Laurie

    cLive ;-)

    --
    -- Trinity in high heels carrying a whip: The donimatrix - there is no spoonerism
  3. OMG ROFLMAO TEH LUNIX IS GHEY LOLOLOL 111?!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

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    ImportantStuff:Pleasetrytokeeppostsontopic. Trytoreplytootherpeople'scommentsinsteadofstarting newthreads.Readotherpeople'smessagesbeforeposting yourowntoavoidsimplyduplicatingwhathasalready beensaid.Useaclearsubjectthatdescribeswhatyour messageisabout.Offtopic,Inflammatory,Inappropriate , Illegal,orOffensivecommentsmightbemoderated.(You canreadeverything,evenmoderatedposts,byadjusting yourthresholdontheUserPreferencesPag
    ImportantStuff:Pleasetrytokeeppostsontopic. Trytoreplytootherpeople'scommentsinsteadofstarting newthreads.Readotherpeople'smessagesbeforeposting yourowntoavoidsimplyduplicatingwhathasalready beensaid.Useaclearsubjectthatdescribeswhatyour messageisabout.Offtopic,Inflammatory,Inappropriate , Illegal,orOffensivecommentsmightbemoderated.(You canreadeverything,evenmoderatedposts,byadjusting yourthresholdontheUserPreferencesPag
    ImportantStuff:Pleasetrytokeeppostsontopic. Trytoreplytootherpeople'scommentsinsteadofstarting newthreads.Readotherpeople'smessagesbeforeposting yourowntoavoidsimplyduplicatingwhathasalready beensaid.Useaclearsubjectthatdescribeswhatyour messageisabout.Offtopic,Inflammatory,Inappropriate , Illegal,orOffensivecommentsmightbemoderated.(You canreadeverything,evenmoderatedposts,byadjusting yourthresholdontheUserPreferencesPags
    ImportantStuff:Pleasetrytokeeppostsontopic. Trytoreplytootherpeople'scommentsinsteadofstarting newthreads.Readotherpeople'smessagesbeforeposting yourowntoavoidsimplyduplicatingwhathasalready beensaid.Useaclearsubjectthatdescribeswhatyour messageisabout.Offtopic,Inflammatory,Inappropriate , Illegal,orOffensivecommentsmightbemoderated.(You canreadeverything,evenmoderatedposts,byadjusting yourthresholdontheUserPreferencesPag

  4. Get off your high horse by ShatteredDream · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Look, I don't like Bush anymore than the next guy here, but the UN has had it coming for a long time. They are a bunch of spineless beaucrats that love rubbing elbows with corrupt fascist and socialist dictators like Saddamn Hussein. They had already authorized the usage of force long before the bullshit about needing a 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th resolution came about. The UN makes a debating club look productive and thoughtful. They form a committee to discuss the ramifications of forming a committee who is charged with determining whether acting on their threat of war is justified.

    Which it isn't. The UN has no legitimacy in the US because it is a form of government organization and it has very little consent from the governed in our country. I don't like Bush, I'll be honest about that. I think his policies are reckless, irresponsibile and I dread the day that Hitlery Clinton gets a shot at using the PATRIOT Act. Just imagine, release a new equivalent of DeCSS and you're a terrorist. Well you were before the government captured you and made you disappear.

    It says a lot about so many people that they respect an organization that puts Libya and the Sudan on a human rights commission. While they're at it, why not put the Ku Klux Klan and the Black Panthers on a racial sensitivity panel?

    --
    Click here or a puppy gets stomped!