SCO Thread that will never die (was Re: Maddog at work.)

[bscott at ntisys.com]

On Tue, 3 Jun 2003, at 11:02am, pll at lanminds.com wrote:
>   Ben> Basically, patents are intended to protect ideas.
> 
> Well, that is the way they are used, but they were *intended* to foster
> invention and innovation by rewarding the inventor/innovator with a 17(?)
> year span of exclusivity during which they could patent that
> invention/innovation.

  You're talking why, I was talking what.  :)

> Unfortunately, it seems to have done exactly the opposite of this :(

  I did say I didn't want to get into that argument.  But since you bring it
up anyway...

  The reason patents were created was that, otherwise, people tend to want
to keep ideas "secret" and "horde" them.  This is not unreasonable.  It
would really suck to dedicate ten years of your life (or tons of R&D money)  
to perfecting some process, only to have some third rate company copy your
plan and undercut your price the week after you went to market.

  The problems that I and many others see are mainly (1) the US Patent and
Trademark Office has been granting overly broad and general patents for the
past few decades, and (2) the 20 year lifetime of a patent grant is far too
long for the fast-paced world of computers.  I understand that #1 is a
relatively recent development; apparently, the precedent had long been that
abstract "mechanisms" could not be patented.  A court decision in the second
half of the 20th century changed that.

  Incidentally: Look up Jeff Bezos and Tim O'Reilly's commentary on patents
sometime.  Things aren't quite as clear cut as one might think...

> Yeah, I've never quite gotten this either.  You declare it as a trade
> secret, but don't file a patent on it because that would release the trade
> secret to the public.

  Companies don't declare something a trade secret in advance.  A trade
secret is basically just some bit of "intellectual property" that you keep
secret.  If someone else "steals" it from you, you can then sue them. Trade
secrets are more general than patents, and they don't expire, which is why
companies like them.  That much I understand.  What I'm not clear on is (1)
the legal mechanisms involved and (2) what happens once the cat is out of
the bag.

-- 
Ben Scott <bscott at ntisys.com>
| The opinions expressed in this message are those of the author and do  |
| not represent the views or policy of any other person or organization. |
| All information is provided without warranty of any kind.              |