| ??? 03/04/10 16:47 Read: times |
#173858 - Maybe not so much Responding to: ???'s previous message |
Oliver Sedlacek said:
A patent, when granted, allows you to stop someone else from using your invention. Perhaps not so much. It really simply bestows on everyone else in the world, the right to sue you for using their invention. The patent makes public what you've done without providing much detail about how you've done it. It protects the claims you've made about what you've done, without saying anything that might help someone else reverse-engineer your invention. The idea is to promote innovation. If someone sees what you've done and conjures up a better way, then his invention is unique only if he's done something you didn't do. How he implements it doesn't really matter. If you use logic in a CPLD and he uses a microcontroller, it is not inherently unique. If he does something totally different using the same MCU you used, well, it probably is unique, and therefore may deserve a patent. Patents aren't concerned with HOW ... they're concerned with WHAT. Some truly absurd patents have been awarded over the years, such as the use of a laser pointer as a cat toy, or a toy for any animal with a hunt reflex. This could be challenged by anyone 'skilled in the art' of playing with cats on the grounds of obviousness, but it was still granted. Makers of laser pointers can still sell their wares, but if they promote them as cat toys they may be infringing.
Quite frankly, patents are a complete quagmire to suck in the unwary. Big corporations have the resources to patent everything, and they then use them as bargaining counters in patent disputes. They put a typical value of $10,000 US on every patent in their portfolio, which they then cross license. The idea that every patent is worth the same amount is clearly nonsense, but more practical than assessing them indiviually. |
