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A patent was meant to give a solo genius a way to treat their idea as something tangible, at a time when logistics was much slower and the world revolved around

A patent was meant to give a solo genius a way to treat their idea as something tangible, at a time when logistics was much slower and the world revolved around the physical. Maybe they try to develop it themselves, maybe they sell the idea to a big corporation that has the resources to implement it. Either way, genius begets profit, and the world gets genius ideas... in theory anyway. But a genuine idea back then needed a long time frame to actually do something with it. 20 years seemed reasonable at the time. The world is less logistically constrained these days. Make it 5 years, no renewals.

Shitty-kitty 29d ago
A patent is meant to encourage people and companies to share the details of their inventions, instead of keeping them secret. In return the inventors get protection for a certain number of years.
- robocat 29d ago
  That was the stated purpose of a patent. The modern purposes of patents seem to have shifted a long way from that. I wonder how much of ADSL's advantage is due to trade secrets (spread across many vendors) versus how much has been published as patents.
  - Brendinooo 29d ago
    >The modern purposes of patents seem to have shifted a long way from that I'm not sure if that's true, or if it's more that 1) we hear more about the more egregious stuff and/or 2) something was lost in translation with that stated purpose when the world went digital.
    - robocat 28d ago
      Patents are not discussed as inventions any more. Other aspects now matter: defensive patents, patent pools, patent trolls, patent portfolios, etc. Triple damages made a farce of patents as dissemination of invention.
- PunchyHamster 29d ago
  we're getting patents intern could re-invent from scratch in a week in whiteroom
xpct 29d ago
That, and we're also past the need for geniuses to keep grinding in a cave, in hopes of landing a patent. People are far more empowered today, many more can work near the bleeding edge, and funding can be arranged in different ways than holding on to a patent.
childintime 29d ago
Solo geniuses don't have the money to operate the patent system, it doesn't work for them. All they can do is sell for cheap or else get bogged down. When they invent as an employee they outright don't own it. That's a moral outrage. And that's what the patent system is to individuals. Good luck publishing in Costa Rica. When you're not privileged you're likely to be on the losing end. So what use is it? Better keep your invention a secret, like most do, and let the next generation display themselves as the inventors. That's the alternate reality the system actually supports. The whole system should be scrapped. Publishing is easy nowadays, just do it. Then you'd have the rights of you can prove you're the first. Anyone that wants to use can/must give you a known amount of royalties, depending on whether the invention is a unique enabler of a class of products, or just an optimization. Which it will become over time. If you don't want that, keep it a secret and build company around it.
- dingaling 29d ago
  "Solo geniuses don't have the money to operate the patent system" Very true, a friend patented a design, that he had developed over a decade, and tried to license it to established players in the astronomy field. They looked at his pitch and just implemented it anyway. Without buckets of money there's little a solo inventor can do.

Shitty-kitty 29d ago

A patent is meant to encourage people and companies to share the details of their inventions, instead of keeping them secret. In return the inventors get protection for a certain number of years.

robocat 29d ago
That was the stated purpose of a patent. The modern purposes of patents seem to have shifted a long way from that. I wonder how much of ADSL's advantage is due to trade secrets (spread across many vendors) versus how much has been published as patents.
- Brendinooo 29d ago
  >The modern purposes of patents seem to have shifted a long way from that I'm not sure if that's true, or if it's more that 1) we hear more about the more egregious stuff and/or 2) something was lost in translation with that stated purpose when the world went digital.
  - robocat 28d ago
    Patents are not discussed as inventions any more. Other aspects now matter: defensive patents, patent pools, patent trolls, patent portfolios, etc. Triple damages made a farce of patents as dissemination of invention.
PunchyHamster 29d ago
we're getting patents intern could re-invent from scratch in a week in whiteroom

xpct 29d ago

That, and we're also past the need for geniuses to keep grinding in a cave, in hopes of landing a patent. People are far more empowered today, many more can work near the bleeding edge, and funding can be arranged in different ways than holding on to a patent.

childintime 29d ago

Solo geniuses don't have the money to operate the patent system, it doesn't work for them. All they can do is sell for cheap or else get bogged down. When they invent as an employee they outright don't own it. That's a moral outrage. And that's what the patent system is to individuals. Good luck publishing in Costa Rica. When you're not privileged you're likely to be on the losing end. So what use is it? Better keep your invention a secret, like most do, and let the next generation display themselves as the inventors. That's the alternate reality the system actually supports. The whole system should be scrapped. Publishing is easy nowadays, just do it. Then you'd have the rights of you can prove you're the first. Anyone that wants to use can/must give you a known amount of royalties, depending on whether the invention is a unique enabler of a class of products, or just an optimization. Which it will become over time. If you don't want that, keep it a secret and build company around it.

dingaling 29d ago
"Solo geniuses don't have the money to operate the patent system" Very true, a friend patented a design, that he had developed over a decade, and tried to license it to established players in the astronomy field. They looked at his pitch and just implemented it anyway. Without buckets of money there's little a solo inventor can do.