Comment Economic Problem? So, tear away at the incentive! (Score 1) 143
I'll put my money where my mouth is on this one. I've been reading /. for a while now, and this is only the umpteenth bad patent I've read about. My background? Economics grad student, dabbling heavily in computers. My problem with bad patents (and poorly-designed intellectual protection laws in general)? They serve to stifle innovation. The ability to create such (apparently) uncreative patents sees the diversion of resources away from designing truly innovative (as opposed to the Microsoft kind) technology, and puts those resources into creating patents on notions so vague that I wouldn't be surprised to read about a patent for "oxygen/carbon dioxide exchange system in mammailian organisms", to be shortly followed by 6 billion royalty requests for using our lungs.
But talk is cheap. As I said, I'm willing to put my money where my mouth is. If anyone else is interested in setting up, or contributing to, a site devoted to "patent breaking", e-mail me at pash@is2.dal.ca, and include some reference to patents in your subject line. Let's get a real resource going to help those who are going to need to fight these patents. At the same time, maybe we can start an organized effort to lobby for some reform of intellectual property to bring into line, not just as a matter of philosophical principle, but to keep the intellectually lazy from putting the brakes on progress.
But talk is cheap. As I said, I'm willing to put my money where my mouth is. If anyone else is interested in setting up, or contributing to, a site devoted to "patent breaking", e-mail me at pash@is2.dal.ca, and include some reference to patents in your subject line. Let's get a real resource going to help those who are going to need to fight these patents. At the same time, maybe we can start an organized effort to lobby for some reform of intellectual property to bring into line, not just as a matter of philosophical principle, but to keep the intellectually lazy from putting the brakes on progress.
