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A comment on Paypal Patent Application: Expedited Virtual Currency Transaction System. Parent comment

Re:Paypal Patent Application: Expedited Virtual Currency Tra... by I_am_tiberius on Monday March 05, 2018 @08:16PM (#16526129)
> I do think that the threshold for what deserves a patent is far too low in the USA though.

A first big step forward would be to increase the threshold. The current situation is ridiculous, - I think everyone agrees on that.

> Regardless, patents in general are a net good for mankind. It incentivises innovation, as the inventor gets a monopoly for a limited time on new inventions.

I cannot entirely disagree on that, - at least from today's perspective. However, what did people think about open source software 30 years ago? They would have said something similar as you did, - which is that companies would not have the motivation to invest time and money. What do people think today?

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Paypal Patent Application: Expedited Virtual Currency Tra... by jjeaff on Monday March 05, 2018 @08:46PM (#16526262)
Open source is not necessarily a profitable endeavour. Their are some exceptions, but presumably there would be a lot more open source options out there if it were more profitable.
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