Patents - do you think they help or hinder economic growth and innovation?
 

I'm kind of torn on the whole idea behind patents and if they are good or bad. On one had I want to respect the idea, that if some guy in a garage some where builds a interesting widget, that he should be able to protect his right to bring it to the market.

However in today's world that would be extremely rare and unlikely, as most patents are usually just ideas and most things are never created. Even worse is groups buy up these patents trying to force others whom actually did create something to pay a fee because part of what they created was covered under some random patent filled years ago.

Many of us myself included had to deal with this very issue years ago when we were threaten to be sued over a random video patent. That kind of shit obviously hinders economic growth and innovation and it's absurd. It makes me want to say the entire patent system should be scraped.

When you look at China, they don't give a fuck about patents, they just make what ever they want to make and don't give two shits if someone has a patent on it. Obviously it's good for their economy, but not so good for ours when they do this.

What do you guys think should be done about the current US patent system? In my opinion, I think you should only be able to get a temporary or limited patent on an "idea". You should have to bring forward a working prototype within 5 years of being granted a temporary patent before being granted a full patent and if 5 years is not enough time then you should have to show working progress and reason for not having the working prototype finished.

I think only real items should be able to be patented, not ideas as it's far too easy to abuse the current system with just patents granted for ideas.

Thoughts?

First you'd have to fix the US Patent and Trademark office which is still issuing patents for ideas as basic as "collecting information online using a form" and similar overly broad ideas.

If they continue to grant such patents then people and companies will continue to use them to stifle innovation.

if a company is to invest billions in research then its absurd to think that anybody has the right to just steal and profit from this...innovations, or should I say real innovations will never happen....

I would never bother inventing anything and perfecting it if some asswipe can steal years of my work LOL...no intelligent person in their right mind would bother...

I can understand the "file sharers" point of view how it hinders "progress" LOL...fucking freeloaders who want to enjoy others work without paying for it....makes perfect sense to them...

Agreed, Patents are vital to innovation. The system is broken and needs to be fixed.

Example, someone patents the idea of transmitting a scanned file across a network. They don't have a patent on scanning or networks, they just put the 2 existing technologies together and patent that idea. Now they are running around filing lawsuits against many companies that have a network connected scanner.

File sharing usually runs afoul of copyright law not patents.

The problem is as I mentioned. I fully support the idea of patenting a actual product. If you produce a prototype or have a working model, then hell yes it should be protected. However most patents are not actual products that years of innovation and money went into. Most patents are simply ideas on paper, that patent trolls often buy up in order to try to sue for damages or license fees.

Copyrighted material is completely different. It's a actual product that was created therefore yes of course it should be protected.

its hard to gain world wide patents it costs a lot of money...so does developing ideas...if you limit patent rights only to people who invested money and time then you hinder creativity for those who are poor but creative...they may not have the funds to develop for the next 10 years, it is not right to limit patents just to the rich...

I do not see patent trolls as hindering progress...there is a 1000 ways to do something...creative people will rise...the non creative will blame patent trolls...