Isaac Asimov Asks, “How Do People Get New Ideas?” (1959)

Re:Isaac Asimov Asks, “How Do People Get New Ideas?” (1959) by GFischer on Wednesday January 04, 2017 @01:48PM (#13320951)

IBM's is a sad example of how the patent process is abused (although I guess I should blame the game, not the players).

If said patents were filed and shelved for some time, they should hold no validity in court afterwards.

Edit: that said, it is interesting how they came up with said patentable ideas :) , and it does fit with what Asimov said about the intersection of components, and daring being encouraged (at IBM, take note!).

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Re:Isaac Asimov Asks, “How Do People Get New Ideas?” (1959) by jacobolus on Wednesday January 04, 2017 @02:08PM (#13321105)

> If said patents were filed and shelved for some time, they should hold no validity in court afterwards.

That’s how it works right now. The “some time” is 20 years after the filing date.

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Re:Isaac Asimov Asks, “How Do People Get New Ideas?” (1959) by GFischer on Wednesday January 04, 2017 @03:06PM (#13321588)

Yes, you're right :) . I was thinking of a drastically shorter timeframe in case of non-enforced patents, and maybe to be determined by a judge or jury. Say a few years at most, or maybe varying according to the field (doesn't make the same sense for tech advancements to be accorded the same length of protection than medical ones, say.).

Still, much wiser heads have written lots about this :)

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Re:Isaac Asimov Asks, “How Do People Get New Ideas?” (1959) by ianai on Wednesday January 04, 2017 @05:06PM (#13322550)

I don't think the law can differentiate between medical/technical/etc patents to that fine a degree.

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