# HG changeset patch # User Robert McIntyre # Date 1364831259 0 # Node ID bffd7519431c3d7a1f4d5a0184e0afcb38638dad # Parent e4ee3818a033aebfbb95a312678863767e12f497 description of patents. diff -r e4ee3818a033 -r bffd7519431c org/patents.org --- a/org/patents.org Mon Apr 01 15:14:51 2013 +0000 +++ b/org/patents.org Mon Apr 01 15:47:39 2013 +0000 @@ -17,11 +17,68 @@ work, reading your work, or creating derivitave works based on your work. - + Thus, copyright is what I call a "negative force". It is something + that you use to prevent the flow of information; it lets you remove + the abilities of other people to use "your" information. + * GPL uses copyright as a positive force -* Patents generally an inhibitive force. + The genius of the GPL license is that it takes the negative force of + copyright and turns it on its head. With the GPL, copyright can be + used to enable freedom, and ensure peoples' rights to freely use + your information. The GPL essentially reads: + #+begin_quote + This work is copyrighted, but by recieving this work you gain the + rights to distribute, copy, and make derivitave works based on this + work, but only if you also license such work under this license. + #+end_quote + + The requirement for using the GPL in derivative works makes the GPL + "infectious", which means the GPL will "contaminate" all derivative + works with itself. This ensures that even after many many + alterations, the modified work will still respect its users' + freedoms the same as the original work. + +* Patents, like copyright, are normally a negative force + + Patents, unlike copyright, are something you must request from the + government. You are only supposed to be able to get a patent for a + "novel" idea, which is an idea that wouldn't be obvious to someone + working in the relevant field. A patent can be for the plans to a + physical object ("regular" patents), an algorithm (software patent), + of a way of doing something (process patent). Once you have a + patent, it gives you the ability to stop anyone else from using your + idea in any other invention. This is supposed to give you a + temporary monopoly to help you make money off your invention before + anyone else would be legally allowed to do so. In practce, many + patents are given for ideas that are quite obvious to pretty much + everyone. For example, Amazon has a patent (#[[http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect2=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&d=PALL&RefSrch=yes&Query=PN%2F5715399][5,715,399]]) on the idea + of presenting a coustomer with the last four digits of a credit card + instead of displaying the entire numbner. Amazon can sue any other + company that displays only the last four digits of a credit card + number and prevent them from using that method unless they pay + Amazon a lot of money. Needless to say, there are many patents that + are very silly. + + Now, I choose a particurally silly patent, but the point is that + patents can be a great force for the retardation of progress. Many + silly patents have been issued, and a patent lasts for 17 years. For + almost any idea, there will be some patent that will cover your + idea, and then the entity that owns that patent can prevent you from + selling products based on that idea /or even giving products based + on that idea away for free/. + + ** Patents are treated as physical objects + They can be sold, seized, etc. This is because the government wants + new inventions to actually be made available to the public. The idea + here is that if you are an inventor and you obtain a patent on a + cool invention, but are unable/unwilling to develop an commercial + product, you can sell that patent to some company and give them the + exclusive rights to make that invention. + + ** Patents are arranged in a dependency network + Patents are usually a negative force, one that allows you to stop other entities from using knowledge to their own advantage.