Public Patents?

Lettuce asks: "While driving along today, I was mulling over patents. One of the problems with patents, from an open source perspective, is they cost money to acquire. Not only do you have to pay the Patent Office for them, you usually need to obtain the services of some lawyer. Which means you'll usually never see someone patent an idea just so that it can be public domain. What if we lobby our congressmen and senators to wave the charges for patents and even provide patent assistance, for those of us who would patent an idea for the public. With that simple change, couldn't people could flood the patent office with simple ideas and prevent abusers from patenting obvious ideas such as 'delivering e-mail to a wireless device'?"

Comments

Another option: violence

[argoff]

I hate to say this, but there is another option that should be mentioned: violence, or the threat of it. As bad as this sounds, some people imposing patents have acutally done worse.

Sometimes a few credible threats can do a lot more to hold back the patent dogs than years of litigation and petitioning.

Considering that some patents have held back medical innovation and have led to deaths, or safety devices that have also led to death. Or considering how pharmacuticals sued African nations to keep them from making generics and that led to countless AIDS deaths. Or the countless other small innovative companies that were sued out of esxistence, and all the families and related people who suffered greatly from that. It is not an out of the question option.

essay: A Violent Protest Against Patents