13 Comments
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Michael Woudenberg's avatar

The real work is done under trade secrets. The patent paradox is exacerbated when you had patents for absurd things like a smart phone in a rectangular shape with rounded corners. Add another dimension, patents can make a person's career and a lot of patents look great for a company as a signal of IP.

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Andrew Sniderman 🕷️'s avatar

Add contracts (NDAs, non-competes), and copyright to the mix. Brad Smith - top lawyer at MSFT is now vice-chair and he has like 2000 lawyers working on this stuff

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Michael Woudenberg's avatar

Good points.

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Daniel Nest's avatar

"Defensive Patent" could be a straight-to-B-tier-streaming-service Steven Seagal movie, too.

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Andrew Smith's avatar

Russian language with English subtitles?

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Daniel Nest's avatar

More like English language with an undercover Russian translator recording his lines over everyone's dialogue. Just the way I watched action movies back in Ukraine.

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Andrew Smith's avatar

Oh yeah, camcorder in the theater and/or camcorder recording a VHS tape playing, then overdubbed? I remember!

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Daniel Nest's avatar

You grew up in Ukraine too? Incredible, comrade!

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Sum's avatar

“There is nothing new under the sun.” So, we might as well allow everything to be free and un-encumbered.

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Sum's avatar

“Is there a case to be made for protecting any ideas, ever?” Currently is the “ever” you might be referring to. We currently have laws protecting intellectual property. Those laws are usually not made by the “little guy”. Maybe…

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Andrew Smith's avatar

Is there a case to be made for protecting any ideas, ever? Is it important to give credit to someone who comes up with an invention that helps people? I don't have these answers, but want to make sure we're thinking about all aspects.

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Sum's avatar

“s there a case to be made for protecting any ideas, ever?

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Rabbi Eli L. Garfinkel's avatar

Ideas for inventions should not be eligible for patents. If I have an idea for a legal thriller and then John Grisham writes a book based on the same idea, I have no case. Ideas are a dime a dozen.

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