Um no, that wasn't the intention. Since an inventor can keep their invention secret, even today, and still benefit, then the economic desire is to make it public so others can benefit. The famous example is the formula for Coke. The problem was that inventors kept all of their inventions a secret, thus limiting commerce and commercial development. Commerce in the sense that it gives the inventor protection in the marketplace, and development because others will see it and try to do something similar. The Patent Office is part of the Commerce Department, not some science agency. Patents exist to promote commerce, in other words, not really science.
A patent is a contract between the federal gov't and the inventor. The gov't agrees to grant an inventor intellectual property rights in the form of a time limited monopoly in exchange for allowing the gov't to make the invention public. Without patent protection, making a commercially valuable invention public is foolish. For example, SAAB invented the seat belt. They thought it was so important for the safety of all that they gave it away to the public. That was their thinking but the consequence was that they did not benefit financially from their hard work.
So, a patent examiner negotiates contracts on behalf of the federal gov't. I feel it is an important job. Many of us take this work very seriously, but obviously some do not unfortunately.
I hope that clears this up a little.
Who is "we"?
You're free to file a patent application on anything you invent. Being granted a patent is a "right", not a "privilege". You have a right to be granted a patent unless an examiner can find a reason for you not to be granted one. Once granted, no one can take it away from you.
We, the people.
* Post #142 sounds "American". ...Capitalism....That must be serious for many.
Patents are an integral part of capitalism, like it or not.
As for photography, check out class 396 of the USPC.
You can search any US patent on Google as far as I know, as well as the USPTO. China just joined the WIPO, so they are applying for patents in the US now and we have their patents in our database. Any patent that is expired is available for anyone to make, use or sell the invention.
It is a published application. Full search info is KR 20130025532 A. It's a pesticide for dust mites. And so:
Espacenet - Bibliographic data
Except the exact implementation is made up mainly by those with something to gain with very little concern for any changes in the way commerce changes over literally centuries. I find Mike Hoy's writings about the concept of limited liability (another cornerstone of "capitalism") being simply a government fiat interesting in this regard.
It came in this mornings mail. Speaking of patents that "enlightened" wire guy named Litz wire in his claims and was still granted a new patent on... Litz wiire.
The "exact implementation" has been shaped and molded by over 200 years of court decisions and changes in patent law. It's not true that patent law does not change with changes in commerce. What are you talking about? It's constantly changing as a result of court decisions, Congressional decisions and treaties with other countries. The Patent Office wouldn't have had to create two entirely new TC's if the Supreme Court hadn't decided that business methods and genomes were in fact patentable subject matter. These two huge changes were a result of changes in commerce! We had to create an entire database of prior art almost overnight to have something to search!
Another huge change that is taking place is the first to file, and the adoption of the CPC. These are both results of the harmonization of patent law across the globe in order to, guess what, make commerce easier!!! duh! Like it or not we live in a global economy and thus the patent system is changing to adapt.
I don't know Mr. Hoy and I'm not really interested in reading what he has to say.
Who says patents were supposed to be something noble and good? Is it just because it's in the Constitution? "Advancing the useful arts" was for making America into an economic powerhouse, not to create the world's largest technical library (which it is anyway).
Thanks. The patent's in Korean. Can someone who knows Korean read it and tell me any details about how apiol is isolated from the Petroselinum?
You're certainly entitled to your opinion, they don't call them trolls for nothing.
- Status
- This old topic is closed. If you want to reopen this topic, contact a moderator using the "Report Post" button.