Reduction to practice can be actual or constructive. A prototype need not be built for the invention to have social use. See: http://www.smithhopen.com/glossary/default.asp?ID_ Glossary=38 saying:
Constructive reduction to practice is accomplished by the filing of a PATENT APPLICATION that enables one of ordinary skill in the art to make and use the invention without undue research or experimentation.
If someone of ordinary skill in the art can make the invention without research, the public interest is served.
Our system has become based on the ridiculous premise that all inventors come up with ideas that nobody else could possibly have come up with.
The system is not premised on the idea that nobody else could have come up with the idea. The system encourages people to take their ideas and reduce them to practice. Having the invention filed with the government exposes the knowledge to the public, who benefit where the alternative is keeping the details a secret.
The patents system has devolved to be that if you are the first to file a piece of paper.. regardless of how obvious your idea is.. you win a monopoly on it for 20 years (with possible infinite extension via mickey mouse legislators).
Unlike some other countries, the US is not a first-to-file jurisdiction. Instead, it is a first-to-invent jurisdiction, generally giving rights to the first person to come up with the idea. Furthermore, obviousness is a bar to patentability (although a challenger is not allowed the benefit of hindsight when making this obviousness determination). Except in very strange circumstances (usually involving government appropriation of defense-related inventions) there is no way to extend patent rights beyond 20 years. The mickey mouse legislators you refer to are dealing with copyright.
Just because you are the first to invent something, doesn't mean society would have been deprived of your invention were it not for you. It just means you got there first (thanks to better resources available to you). It's like a winner of a race claiming that if it wasn't for him, nobody else would have crossed the finish line.
The limited rights given to a patent holder is one of the main incentives that drives the metaphorical race you describe. Without patents, things would surely be invented... just not as quickly. And once they were, the details would be kept completely secret, robbing value to society. Without patents, here's how the race would go: once the winner reaches the finish line, all the other runners are instantly transported to the finish line and given gold metals. So what is the incentive for any one runner to be first? Nobody would run. They would more likely meander indifferently towards the finish line.
I'm not some crazy lover of patents. I believe that some reform is in order. But the basic premise makes sense in our currently capitalist business environment.
Re:Beyond publicity, is there a point?
on
Blu-ray Laser Gadget
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· Score: 0, Offtopic
We COULD make them pay for it. According to the 2000 census, people aged 50-59 (roughly the ages of the boomers, who according to wikipedia were born between 1946 and 1957) make up approximately 13% of the population. With 75% of the population over 18... we could elect a congress who would tax the hell out of the boomers. If we wanted to.
The MINIMUM pixel size is certainly related to the wavelength you want to detect. Considering that we can build chip features in the 45nm range, a.4um detector is not outrageous. You are overlooking the fact that there are multiple ways to increase the number of photon samples you collect. One is ambient light. Another is exposure time. Alternatively, you could just accept a tradeoff between a small sensor and noisy image. It's still 13GP.
Ok, originated and run. And probably owned. I think the GP's point is still intact. Nothing in your Wikimedia quote contradicts the GP's statement either. Wikimedia is incorporated in Florida.
Recharging in 5 minutes needs megawatt hours of energy delivered in minutes.
Right...
Doing that means a crapload of both volts and amps.
Wrong... see item 1. You can trade off volts for amps and vice versa. 1 Megawatt hour delivered in 1 minute means 60 Megawatts. You can achieve this with 60 MV at 1A, 1V at 60MA or anything in between. If you use a high voltage, you minimize current and therefore minimize transmission losses. Which means you can use smaller wire. As the GP said, you'd need a lot of insulation around a wire at 60MV
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Reduction to practice can be actual or constructive. A prototype need not be built for the invention to have social use. See: http://www.smithhopen.com/glossary/default.asp?ID_ Glossary=38 saying:
Constructive reduction to practice is accomplished by the filing of a PATENT APPLICATION that enables one of ordinary skill in the art to make and use the invention without undue research or experimentation.
If someone of ordinary skill in the art can make the invention without research, the public interest is served.
The system is not premised on the idea that nobody else could have come up with the idea. The system encourages people to take their ideas and reduce them to practice. Having the invention filed with the government exposes the knowledge to the public, who benefit where the alternative is keeping the details a secret.
The patents system has devolved to be that if you are the first to file a piece of paper .. regardless of how obvious your idea is .. you win a monopoly on it for 20 years (with possible infinite extension via mickey mouse legislators).
Unlike some other countries, the US is not a first-to-file jurisdiction. Instead, it is a first-to-invent jurisdiction, generally giving rights to the first person to come up with the idea. Furthermore, obviousness is a bar to patentability (although a challenger is not allowed the benefit of hindsight when making this obviousness determination). Except in very strange circumstances (usually involving government appropriation of defense-related inventions) there is no way to extend patent rights beyond 20 years. The mickey mouse legislators you refer to are dealing with copyright. Just because you are the first to invent something, doesn't mean society would have been deprived of your invention were it not for you. It just means you got there first (thanks to better resources available to you). It's like a winner of a race claiming that if it wasn't for him, nobody else would have crossed the finish line.
The limited rights given to a patent holder is one of the main incentives that drives the metaphorical race you describe. Without patents, things would surely be invented... just not as quickly. And once they were, the details would be kept completely secret, robbing value to society. Without patents, here's how the race would go: once the winner reaches the finish line, all the other runners are instantly transported to the finish line and given gold metals. So what is the incentive for any one runner to be first? Nobody would run. They would more likely meander indifferently towards the finish line.
I'm not some crazy lover of patents. I believe that some reform is in order. But the basic premise makes sense in our currently capitalist business environment.
We COULD make them pay for it. According to the 2000 census, people aged 50-59 (roughly the ages of the boomers, who according to wikipedia were born between 1946 and 1957) make up approximately 13% of the population. With 75% of the population over 18... we could elect a congress who would tax the hell out of the boomers. If we wanted to.
You must be less abusive then I. My keys are "hit".
The MINIMUM pixel size is certainly related to the wavelength you want to detect. Considering that we can build chip features in the 45nm range, a .4um detector is not outrageous. You are overlooking the fact that there are multiple ways to increase the number of photon samples you collect. One is ambient light. Another is exposure time. Alternatively, you could just accept a tradeoff between a small sensor and noisy image. It's still 13GP.
ok, so I should have used .7um (aproximate longest wavelength of visible light) and 136,424 = 95mm, which is medium format
ok so... .4um (wavelength of upper visible light spectrum) * 114,000 = 45.6mm... compare to 35mm and we're talking the same order of magnitude.
Ok, originated and run. And probably owned. I think the GP's point is still intact. Nothing in your Wikimedia quote contradicts the GP's statement either. Wikimedia is incorporated in Florida.
This thing: 2 60MW reactors Nimitz Class Aircraft carrier: 194MW I'd say it's about the same scale. http://www.naval-technology.com/projects/nimitz/
Anything going faster than Mach 1 in the atmosphere produces a continuous "boom".
Multiple access points.
Or just pay them later.
Yeah, I know it's not very practical. But wouldn't it be cool if you could just arc it directly into your car? Tesla would be proud.
Just stick a lightning rod into your flux capacitor and drive by the local clock tower.
Right...
Recharging in 5 minutes needs megawatt hours of energy delivered in minutes.
Right...
Doing that means a crapload of both volts and amps.
Wrong... see item 1. You can trade off volts for amps and vice versa. 1 Megawatt hour delivered in 1 minute means 60 Megawatts. You can achieve this with 60 MV at 1A, 1V at 60MA or anything in between. If you use a high voltage, you minimize current and therefore minimize transmission losses. Which means you can use smaller wire. As the GP said, you'd need a lot of insulation around a wire at 60MV
More like 10 days...
When he said solid-state I think he meant discrete.
You know, you can just type "n" or "e".
So you install BPL in the area?
Sounds like you need to switch over to all electricity or all gas, my friend.
For me, it's an opportunity cost thing. I get more utility out of slashdot.
I thought poor man's drm is when you send yourself the key in the mail.
Or more likely: user error
Damn those 2 dimentional wires!
Inside, but it won't compile that way.