Re:Facebook has been granted patent on shadow banning
by quadrangle on Thursday August 15, 2019 @08:28PM
(#20711060)
Without patents, the little guy can actually do innovative stuff with all the technology we're surrounded with. Patents are primarily used by the big players to maintain their power.
Inequities in wealth and power are serious problems. Patents are a horrible method to deal with them though. If you set out to have a goal of supporting little-guy innovators, we'd do best to institute things like UBI and universal health care.
That whole windshield wiper story isn't too far from patent-trolling situations. Big companies get sued all the time by "inventors" who got patents on things that the companies would have come up with on their own anyway. The overall net effect of patents is harm for the public interest.
Re:Facebook has been granted patent on shadow banning
by zzo38computer on Thursday August 15, 2019 @08:40PM
(#20711132)
I also want to abolish patents. (And I do not patent things myself, since, that would make it difficult to use. And, I am the "little guy".)
Look at Robert Kearns[0]. He invented the intermittent windshield wiper and demoed it to the “Big Three.” They then took his idea and implemented it themselves. So he sued them and won.
Maybe removing patents would spur innovation, but what then do you do when you’re the little guy?
[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Kearns