Re:Patent US5443036 – Method of exercising a cat
by rhino369 on Friday October 23, 2015 @01:05PM
(#10439849)
The "bringing invention to the public sphere" is the least persuasive argument for patent law. Trade secrets are actually protected under our current system. So companies can patent technology that is easily reverse engineerable, and then keep the other stuff as trade secrets--never giving the info the public domain.
Google has tons of patents but their secret sauce is private. Intel has patents on their devices, but their semiconductor processes are closely held secrets.
Companies have their cake and eat it too.
The more persuasive argument is that patents encourage invention by rewarding it. If it costs 1 billion to develop a product that create 10 billion worth of value but the inventor won't be able to capture more than 500 million of the value, the inventor won't spend the money.
The other good argument that nobody seems to make is just a fundamental property right. You create the invention, you own it. Real estate property was first doled out like that. First to claim it, keeps it.
Google has tons of patents but their secret sauce is private. Intel has patents on their devices, but their semiconductor processes are closely held secrets.
Companies have their cake and eat it too.
The more persuasive argument is that patents encourage invention by rewarding it. If it costs 1 billion to develop a product that create 10 billion worth of value but the inventor won't be able to capture more than 500 million of the value, the inventor won't spend the money.
The other good argument that nobody seems to make is just a fundamental property right. You create the invention, you own it. Real estate property was first doled out like that. First to claim it, keeps it.