[SC.LUG] America

[Richard Pineger]

I could think of one reason and that is that they prevent
cross-fertilization, for instance between Universities. Research papers in
the UK are apparently suffering from being censored by Intellectual Property
(IP) departments and therefore the pace of innovation is slowing in our
learned institutions.

Other than that I don't have hard facts, just opinion. It started as a gut
feeling that the world would be a better place without them.

I've worked for 3 companies, two of which were electronics manufacturers,
and none of which had any patents. The companies still exist and make enough
to pay their staff. Where patents exist, they must pay a license fee to a
monopoly supplier. In my book, monopoly = bad. As it happened, my companies
were quite innovative but didn't really have anyone who understood the
patent process.

Amongst two of the sillier patents: My friend was asked to develop an
artificial potato containing a radio transmitter and accelerometer for
measuring picking machinery but couldn't because all artificial fruits and
vegetables containing accelerometers were patented and they wouldn't share.
Recently, a company was granted a patent for oval keys for a thumb operated
keyboard on PDA type devices! Now, if that isn't obvious?

What do you think... do you have any patents? do you try to innovate? if so,
are you willing to patent the things you think of or are you short of time
like the rest of us?

I find patents to be a bit like a giant land grab. "Quick, before the rest
of them wake up, lets put in patents on everything and fence it all off." 

Richard


-----Original Message-----
From: Matthew Tolley [mailto:matthew@matthewtolley.com]
Sent: 18 August 2003 11:56
To: sc@mailman.lug.org.uk
Subject: RE: [SC.LUG] America




I don't like Christian Fundamentalism, Muslim Fundamentalism, Political
Correctness, the totalitarian pretensions of the EU Commisson and a bunch of
other stuff I see on the news, but I don't say things like "I don't like
America". It's a bit like saying "I don't like Borneo" - it includes its
landscape, people, culture etc etc - everything. It's a very sweeping
statement to make and I suspect it wasn't meant literally.

Bit of a radical statement to make about patents. I don't see how they could
stifle innovation - quite the opposite. Do you have hard evidence, or is it
just a theory?