Re:The last patent on AC-3 (Dolby Digital) expires at midnight
by fnj on Monday March 20, 2017 @06:20AM
(#13912945)
Yeah. That's the idea, all right. The reality, not so much. Anyway, if you disclose the idea, all anyone has to do is come to an agreement with you to use it. And if you keep it a secret ... it's exactly the same! All anyone has to do is come to an agreement with you to use it.
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Re:The last patent on AC-3 (Dolby Digital) expires at midnight
by jononor on Monday March 20, 2017 @09:02AM
(#13913744)
Patents are parts of the public record and expire. So it will eventually be part of the public domain. For secrets there is no such guarantee.
Of course these days patents are written in such an obfuscated manner, that maybe they aren't very useful as references in the future.
Re:The last patent on AC-3 (Dolby Digital) expires at midnight
by encoderer on Monday March 20, 2017 @11:32AM
(#13915005)
Without patents, how much time and money would be wasted obfuscating how things work, making it harder to duplicate?
Patents are about giving legal protection to explain how things work, to put it right there for everybody.
That said, eliminate software patents.