|
|
| Line 1: |
Line 1: |
| − | See also: [[law]] | [[license]] | [[prior art]]
| + | nn |
| − | | + | |
| − | A patent is a [[law|legal]] grant for a [[monopoly]] right to the use of an [[invention]]. Specifically it is an right or title made by a [[government]] that gives the creator of an invention the exclusive right to make, use, and sell that invention for a set period of time.
| + | |
| − | | + | |
| − | Originally designed to encourage the disclosure of [[innovation|innovations]], the patent system is suffering from [[function creep]]. Over a period of centuries, market forces have come to dominate patent system, harming [[technology|technical]] innovation in the name of individuals or organizations.
| + | |
| − | | + | |
| − | Patents of [[Internet]] business method should be discouraged because they limit innovation and run contrary to the [[decentralised]] nature of the internet. The main justification for [[intellectual property]] rights in the form of patent monopolies is the cost of production of new [[knowledge]] and innovations is often greater than zero, sometimes much greater.
| + | |
| − | | + | |
| − | Unfortunately the main input to the production of new knowledge is existing knowledge, and keeping the latter artificially expensive will certainly slow down production of the former.
| + | |
| − | | + | |
| − | Many people do not share their [[idea|ideas]] because of the patent system. For example if you work for a large telecommunications company and you worked out a better way of connecting customers, sharing your idea with others in your organisation, without obtaining a patent can mean loss of any and all forthcoming rewards. Because of this barrier many people may supress things which would otherwise have led to [[progress]].
| + | |
| − | | + | |
| − | Fortunately, ideas that were invented and before a submitted patent are known as [[prior art]] and can invalidate a patent. Many Internet businesses have sought to patent simple activities such as one-click shopping [http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/amazon.html#whyBoycott by Amazon.com] or online auctioning in [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A46247-2003May27.html Woolston vs. eBay].
| + | |
| − | | + | |
| − | Patents can be temporarily sealed under [[USA]] Secrecy Orders.
| + | |
| − | | + | |
| − | ==== Related Links ====
| + | |
| − | | + | |
| − | * [http://www.pcmag.com/ PCMagazine] - [http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,1236389,00.asp Patent Riots of 2003] Dvorak's article on Patents
| + | |
| − | * [[Wikipedia]]: [http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patent Patent]
| + | |
| − | * [http://www.wikipatents.com/ Wikipatents] Lists of interesting, amusing or innovative patents. Comment on individual patents.
| + | |
| − | * [[Slashdot]]: [http://yro.slashdot.org/search.pl?topic=155 stories on Patents]
| + | |
| − | * [[Groklaw]]: [http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20040428200118940 New Patent Proposals: It Shouldn't Be Obvious, for Starters]
| + | |
| − | * [http://www.freepatents.org/ Free Patents Original Web Site] - Protecting Innovation & Competition in the IT Industry - Dedicated to the protection of innovation, competition and [[open source]] software against the use and [[abuser|abuse]] of [[software]] patents.
| + | |
| − | * [http://www.mp3board.com/ Patent News] - Aggregate news regarding patents and other IP related topics (has RSS feeds).
| + | |
| − | * [[Newsforge]]: [http://trends.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=04/07/22/201217 Patents in an open source world] by [[Lawrence Rosen]], [[OSI]] lawyer.
| + | |
| − | * [[Greplaw]]: [http://grep.law.harvard.edu/articles/04/09/07/0439233.shtml RSS Feeds for Patent Buffs] - At the time of writing for [[Apple]], [[Google]], [[Microsoft]] and [[Yahoo]].
| + | |
| − | * Richard Stallman ([[FSF]]), Christian Engstrom, Marco Schulze ([[FFII]]) at the [http://www.itcollege.ee Estonian IT College] on Software Patents in Europe. [[http://www.itcollege.ee/dl/OGG/avaloeng10_1.ogg 1]] [[http://www.itcollege.ee/dl/OGG/avaloeng10_2.ogg 2]]. You need the [[Ogg Theora]]/VP3 codec to play this.
| + | |
| − | | + | |
| − | ==== Related Topics ====
| + | |
| − | | + | |
| − | * [[Capitalism]]
| + | |
| − | * [[Copyright]]
| + | |
| − | * [[Industrialism]]
| + | |
| − | * [[Totally Evil Patent]]
| + | |
| − | * [[Trademark]]
| + | |
| − | | + | |
| − | {{infoanarchy|Patent}}
| + | |
