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Re:MPEG-2 Patents Have Expired by cornholio on Thursday February 15, 2018 @03:58AM (#16382699)
If I understand correctly, you propose a tax that everybody in the industry pays, that is shared with all relevant "inventors". I don't think it's a workable sistem since it removes the free market from the distribution and replace it with a committee driven disbursal of fees, offering little incentive to disclose valuable ideas.

I would much rather see a large patent fee with annual inflation indexing for the patent holder. If it costs you 1 million USD each year to hold a patent, then you only acquire one for major, truly revolutionary ideas that will easily recoup that money. It's a sum that can easily be fitted in the budget of any significant research and development program, yet prohibitive for most submarine, defensive, or warchest IP operations.

A large anual fee forces you to "work" the patent, either directly or by licensing it. If you are not sure if your "idea" is valuable, then you don't deserve a patent.

Re:MPEG-2 Patents Have Expired by kanzure on Thursday February 15, 2018 @01:29PM (#16386317)
> it removes the free market from the distribution and replace it with a committee driven disbursal of fees

In a (strained) sense, that's already what the USPTO is doing. Except it's also associated with all this technology innovation stuff, which we would like them to stay away from.

> If you are not sure if your "idea" is valuable, then you don't deserve a patent.

I'll have to play around with that idea.