The patents wars piss me off. What they are saying is after we create a product no one else can make a product as good. If the guys who invented the wheel patented it, everyone else would have to make square wheels. It is bollocks that does nothing but prevent advancement in technology as every new tech is patented so cannot be developed further.
Exactly. The whole point of patents is to encourage innovation by giving the inventor a brief monopoly on their new product, not to stop anyone ever making it, ever again.
You don't see it much, but it is great for ripping DVDs as you can easily encode a layer of subtitles and other information into it, which can be turned on or off at a whim.
Matroska is a container, not a codec, the patent mentioned above is about the h.264 video codec. But that's both off-topic.
It's almost poetic justice, but I'd much rather see the IP and software patent restrictions reviewed, banning Xbox 360 in US will only hurt the end customers and it won't resolve anything...
I thought it was silly that speedway would call an American stupid for not supporting the current regime in his country and thereby exercising free thinking and speech. How does voicing opposition Obama's policies prove every stereotype about dumb Americans? It's as stupid as the stereotype that all Germans are Nazis. That was my point.
As for patent law, if you invent something, why should other people be able to make money selling your idea? Say a Norwegian invents a new computer gadget and produces it in his country where wages are very high because it supports his people and national economy. Then someone from China copies it exactly and sells it for $1000 less, using exploited workers in appalling conditions. Obviously most companies outsource labor to China anyway, but when a company pays R&D for new product, they expect to make a return on that investment, but whoever rips off the idea has to pay nothing for R&D, and can sell the product far cheaper. I don't see a difference between real products and software because some real people invented it either way, and deserve to profit from it, as does the company they work for.
Getting rid of patents can happen someday, perhaps in a future where we can simply describe to a computer the product we want, and advancements would come naturally as products are constantly improved upon by the end users. We are not at that stage yet. In my opinion, expecting researchers and engineers to work hard to make great new products, only to give away their best ideas for free so other companies can profit is wrong. Who is to say some seemingly menial computer code wasn't the best idea some guy ever had?
A new study shows that 20 percent of human genes have been patented in the United States, primarily by private firms and universities.
"It might come as a surprise to many people that in the U.S. patent system human DNA is treated like other natural chemical products," said Fiona Murray, a business and science professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, and a co-author of the study. http://news.nationalgeographic ... 3_051013_gene_patent.html
So, according to US rules, I am unable to reproduce as the patents for my body are owned by companies.
Of course, I'm sure that providing I pay these companies for the right to use my body I may be permitted to live.
The idea behind patents is perfectly fine and reasonable, problem is that the idea is a couple hundred years old and thus doesn't really work with today's state of technology. When Oracle can base its lawsuit against Google on a few lines of code (written in both cases by the same guy!) or when Apple can patent a finger swipe as a screen unlocking gesture, we're not using patents to protect the inventors anymore. Patents have become weapons in the war of competing companies to gain a little edge on the market. Take MS as an example, they're making considerably more money through Android than by Windows Phone sales - talk about protection of inventors.
Today you're allowed to patent almost anything no matter how stupid or simple, it's nearly impossible to create a competitive electronic device and put it on a market without the risk of violating someone's IP. It's usually not like the companies are copying from themselves, they just happen arrive to the same solutions because those solutions are the way to go.
Ten years ago you needed a team of scientists and engineers to come up with some technological advancements, now you need a battalion of lawyers just to make sure your product doesn't violate someone's patents...
Guys I'm going to file a patent on a new idea. It has 4 wheels, made of medal with rubber on the outside. It also has a motor, and a steering wheel. Isn't it a great idea.
thats not the issue the issue is that patent offices allow filing for inventions that require no invention or work or creativity
the reason being obviously that filing a patent costs a lot of money and is what finances the patent office