On Friday, April 2, 2004, at 08:15 AM, Andre Engels wrote:
"Wesley Sheldahl"
<wsheldahl(a)iglou.com> schrieb:
True. However, the historical stated purpose of
patents is to allow an
inventor to profit from his or her invention for a period of time
before everyone else starts profiting from the invention, and thereby
provide incentive for further innovation. What other benefit would
there be to patenting something? There needs to be some benefit to
justify the expense involved.
Well, there is the technique of 'defensive patents'. The idea is to use
the patents as a protection against paying royalties on other people's
patents, by threatening to counter-claim when someone tries to do so.
Problem is that to make it work, one will have to have a portfolio of
very many patents, which is nothing that Wikipedia (or any .org, I
think)
can hope to get.
Andre Engels
True, I had forgotten about those, which is why I asked. Patents don't
seem worth the bother to me for a non-profit, but if someone really
wants to go for it just for the bragging rights or whatever, more power
to them.
Wesley Sheldahl
wsheldahl(a)iglou.com