Re:Anti-Tesla sentiment and the death of optimism
by MacsHeadroom on Friday June 13, 2014 @12:13AM
(#7887401)
How's this for "correctly?" http://www.defensivepatentlicense.com/
Kind of like copyleft- but for patents.
Re:Anti-Tesla sentiment and the death of optimism
by tempestn on Friday June 13, 2014 @02:05AM
(#7887600)
Hmm, I can see how that sort of thing makes sense given the current state of the patent system, but personally I don't believe that so-called 'offensive' patents are irredeemable. Rather, it seems to me that they are simply far too broadly granted, and generally for far too long a time period. I have no problem with a patent-enforced monopoly if it is granted for a true innovation, and for a reasonable length of time.
For example, in the smartphone industry, where a product is old in a year and obsolete in three, it doesn't make sense to me for patents to last decades. On the other hand, it does seem reasonable to reward significant innovation by granting a patent for a long enough time period to establish a strong market position, before opening things up to competition. The tricky thing is, that ideal time period would be highly variable based on the industry and even the specific idea being patented. Still, surely there's room for improvement there.
Re:Anti-Tesla sentiment and the death of optimism
by chongli on Friday June 13, 2014 @04:34AM
(#7887885)
How does the DPL benefit those who have no patents of their own? Copyleft is designed to benefit users above all else, even at the inconvenience of developers.
Re:Anti-Tesla sentiment and the death of optimism
by tempestn on Friday June 13, 2014 @06:24AM
(#7888071)
In case this is the reason for the downvotes, to clarify, I certainly don't believe landmines should ever be placed such that they would be expected to detonate. I'm saying that they might save lives in certain circumstances if used as a last resort deterrent only (with fields obviously clearly marked). Sorry for the tangent.
First, you might want to clarify in the first paragraph that you're talking about the existence of nukes, as opposed to the use of nukes. It's clear from reading your entire comment, but I find it's good to play it safe with that sort of topic! ;)
Second, to play devil's advocate, is it possible that landmines could have a net positive impact if they could somehow be properly, globally regulated? For and extreme example, say that only the UN had access to landmines, and they were only deployed as a last resort to enforce DMZs. (Also measures would be taken so that they could be safely removed.) Seems like they could be a positive thing if used correctly. I expect patents are much the same. Certainly overused and abused currently, but not necessarily negative if they could be used 'correctly'.