Reply #24: They're right about patents, no matter who they are

[saras]

Even before patents, the struggle to control intellectual property cost nations centuries and millions, and cost individuals their lives. Take a look at the historic attempts to control the making of glass and mirrors. Death penalties for revealing 'trade secrets'.

The patent system has a rationale articulated in it. It should be modified to serve this rationale, even if that means abolishing patents. This rationale is that the patent system serve to more quickly get the device into production, to publicize its design so others can design around the patent as soon as possible, and the whole thing collapses when the company has presumably made their research money back and the design enters the public domain.

There's nothing in the system about bogus patents covering ideas like the touch screen, the mouse, and the wheel, and there's nothing in the system about refusing to develop patents, threatening lawsuits over inappropriate patents in the hope of winning through superior spending, and a whole list of other abuses. The entire history of radio is a history of patent abuse, and a good argument against the entire system.

The fact that digital copying is viewed as theft rather than wealth creation is just another example of how bizarrely extremist our ideas about intellectual property are, and how out of touch with what would contribute to social progress.