Comment I'd rather not (Score 2) 170
Few people think that out current IP laws couldn't using some tuning, but this article was way off.
1) You cannot patent laws of nature. You can patent inventions, not discoveries. Newton couldn't patent gravity, but he could patent an invention that takes advantage of his discovery.
2) Tiger's wouldn't eat you, because you could build a levitation device. You just wouldn't be able to use it for a profit or in compatition to the inventors levitation device.
3) Patent do not stop the transfer of information, the facilitate it because they make a ready source of information about inventions. If Mr. X patents a mousetrap, you can patent the mousetrap widget that makes Mr. X's mousetrap better. The "problem" is that you cannot patent the mousetrap-widget combo for an arbitrary period of time.
This is a problem for people who want to expand on previous ideas, but it also protects the labor and work of the originator--not forever, just for a while, and maybe that time unit needs to be reviewed.
1) You cannot patent laws of nature. You can patent inventions, not discoveries. Newton couldn't patent gravity, but he could patent an invention that takes advantage of his discovery.
2) Tiger's wouldn't eat you, because you could build a levitation device. You just wouldn't be able to use it for a profit or in compatition to the inventors levitation device.
3) Patent do not stop the transfer of information, the facilitate it because they make a ready source of information about inventions. If Mr. X patents a mousetrap, you can patent the mousetrap widget that makes Mr. X's mousetrap better. The "problem" is that you cannot patent the mousetrap-widget combo for an arbitrary period of time.
This is a problem for people who want to expand on previous ideas, but it also protects the labor and work of the originator--not forever, just for a while, and maybe that time unit needs to be reviewed.
