Content-type: text/html Downes.ca ~ Stephen's Web ~ Patent Bending

Stephen Downes

Knowledge, Learning, Community
This brief article gets at what's wrong with the current patent environment in a few sentences. Imagine a world in which you had to pay royalties if you sold advertising in newspapers, fast food, delivered packages overnight, or threw a forkball. Patents hinder the competition from copying your invention, which by most accounts is fine. But today's regime crushes entire industries. "One inventive soul won a patent for a system of using pictures to train janitors. Another got one for describing a way to cut hair with both hands.... Selling auctioned items at a fixed price. What gall."

Today: 2 Total: 1749 [Direct link] [Share]

Image from the website


Stephen Downes Stephen Downes, Casselman, Canada
stephen@downes.ca

Copyright 2024
Last Updated: Nov 03, 2024 5:00 p.m.

Canadian Flag Creative Commons License.

Force:yes