[Wikipedia-l] Re: Patent idea

Fri Apr 2 12:39:04 UTC 2004

On Friday, April 2, 2004, at 08:15  AM, Andre Engels wrote:

> "Wesley Sheldahl" <wsheldahl at 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 at iglou.com