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submitted 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) by zachimusprime44@lemmy.world to c/gaming@lemmy.ml
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[-] Carighan@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago

That's genuinely not as simple as you think it is. You realize there was a time before modern patent law, yes?

[-] Lux@lemmy.blahaj.zone 22 points 1 month ago

Patents should be banned ❤️

[-] Paradoxvoid@aussie.zone 24 points 1 month ago

Patents are (at their core) a good thing. It protects little Jimmy Inventor from putting hours and his blood, sweat and tears into coming up with a novel invention, only for some big corpo to see it, steal the idea and bully Jimmy out of the market.

Jimmy has legal recourse to sue the big corpo if he has a patent, whereas without one he has nothing.

Just because the system's been gamed (especially in the US) doesn't mean it's impossible to reform, and is currently still better than nothing.

[-] Ferk@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Yeah, it protects Jimmy from having to unconditionally contribute to society & its many organizations.

It allows Jimmy to set conditions and control who can use it and who cannot. For example, he can ally with one particular big corpo (or even start building one himself) so they can hold that thing hostage and require agreements/fees for the use of that thing for a long long time.

So now, instead of all people, including big (and small) corpos, having free access to the idea, only the friends of Jimmy will.

The reality is that if it wasn't for Jimmy, it's likely that Tommy would have invented it himself anyway at some point (and even improved on it!). But now Tommy can't work on the thing, cos Jimmy doesn't wanna be his friend.

So not only does it protect Jimmy from having to contribute to society without conditions, it also protects society from improving over what Jimmy decided to allow (some) people access to. No competition against Jimmy allowed! :D

Even without patents, if the invention is useful I doubt the inventor will have problems making money. It would be one hell of a thing to have in their portfolio / CV. Many corpos are likely to want Jimmy in their workforce. Of course, he might not become filthy rich.. but did Jimmy really deserve to be that much more richer than Tommy?

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this post was submitted on 19 Sep 2024
307 points (97.8% liked)

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