RE: RE: Patent17 Dec 2016 23:23
A E Marsh,
I agree, patents are do not serve the purpose that they were intended for, to protect the little guy and help the world advance by only allowing a certain time for a patent to be enforceable for.
Little guys get screwed by as the big guys (patents are only worth something if they are challenged and most little guys dont have the money to seek out people are violating) Advances are so rapid that many ideas are old hat anyway by the time they are free to use.
Many ideas, especially ones that are not obvious that they being used are not worth patenting. You are giving other people the knowledge and have difficulty knowing that has been used. Many silicon companies only patent high level architectural stuff rather than small transistor level designs.
Patents can also be granted on things that are not that unique or novel (I have one myself).
Software code is often copyrighted and not patented.
Sometimes it is not the uniqueness of the product but development time. If you are first and have established a good market share early on, catch up by others is sometimes considered futile.