> Patents are vitally important to protecting intellectual property.
More accurately, patents are vitally important to enforcing intellectual monopoly.
Terms such as "protection" and "property" are so heavily biased in favour of patents that they nearly block any useful discussion. As long as mainstream journals use those terms, the only way forward will be nearly complete lock-down. Now, "monopoly" is also biased. But at least it is technically correct.
Patents are supposed to foster innovation by granting monopolies. I can accept the argument that while monopolies are mean, they're a lesser evil compared to the technical innovation they enable. But replace "monopoly" by "property", and soon we're saying that patents are unilaterally good (and not just a net good). Which is obviously false given the huge legal costs they incur.
But even if patents are a net good, we rarely ask ourselves: can't we do even better? Isn't there any other form of government intervention that would be even more efficient? Could the money that currently goes to patent lawyers be better spent? My current answer is "most probably". Of the top of my head, we could fund another Manhattan project, set up more competitions and prizes like the DARPA challenge for autonomous cars, or allocate more research grants.
Yes, because we need even more of our researched funneled through the DoD. That's much more efficient than patent litigstion...
I used to work on a DARPA project, and had some high school field trips funded by the Naval Surface Warfare Lab. The military is a great source of technology, but it's woefully inefficient and it's got a distinct military bent. The DoD can piss away in waste and graft in one month what patent litigation costs in the whole country for a whole year.
More accurately, patents are vitally important to enforcing intellectual monopoly.
Terms such as "protection" and "property" are so heavily biased in favour of patents that they nearly block any useful discussion. As long as mainstream journals use those terms, the only way forward will be nearly complete lock-down. Now, "monopoly" is also biased. But at least it is technically correct.
Patents are supposed to foster innovation by granting monopolies. I can accept the argument that while monopolies are mean, they're a lesser evil compared to the technical innovation they enable. But replace "monopoly" by "property", and soon we're saying that patents are unilaterally good (and not just a net good). Which is obviously false given the huge legal costs they incur.
But even if patents are a net good, we rarely ask ourselves: can't we do even better? Isn't there any other form of government intervention that would be even more efficient? Could the money that currently goes to patent lawyers be better spent? My current answer is "most probably". Of the top of my head, we could fund another Manhattan project, set up more competitions and prizes like the DARPA challenge for autonomous cars, or allocate more research grants.