how do corps get away with abusing the patent system?

[her209]

Slide to unlock!?!?!? Switching to an app during a call!?!?!? C'mon... Is it that easy to abuse the system?

 

[amdhunter]

Money.

 

[Rage187]

0/10

 

[Ronstang]

The patent system has become a complete joke. Blame lawyers, they fuck up everything they touch....look at the government.

 

[Slew Foot]

The patent system has become a complete joke. Blame lawyers, they fuck up everything they touch....look at the government.

this times a million

 

[waggy]

The patent system has become a complete joke. Blame lawyers, they fuck up everything they touch....look at the government.

i agree.

its bullshit. the OP gave some great examples of that

 

[Gothgar]

Yeah, it is a huge piece of shit, right along side the Copyright laws... I mean why switch that to age + a thousand billion? Fucking bullshit all of it.

 

[ThatsABigOne]

If apple did not exist, then we would not have those problems.

 

[MovingTarget]

Money.

This. It* that has the gold, makes the rules.

*Corps are neither male or female, but still considered "people"...

 

[Matthiasa]

The more patents the patent office accepts the more money it gets...
Not to hard to understand given that.

 

[alkemyst]

a patent is only as good as your ability to defend it.

 

[FoBoT]

those that hire the best lawyers win

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

 

[Linflas]

The patent system has become a complete joke. Blame lawyers, they fuck up everything they touch....look at the government.

Blame Congress, if they wrote the laws in such a way as to not leave a lot of crap open for the courts to decide then lawyers wouldn't be able to fuck them up.

 

[RavenSEAL]

Big companies are fucking retarded, specially Apple. They have like 10 Billion patent lawsuits going around every month.

Pathetic...

 

[bfdd]

because people are easily confused when it rains green

 

[Red Squirrel]

Patents and copyright are some of the most stupid systems ever. Big companies get away with it in the name of money. The whole government, corporations, is all one big evil entity. There is lot of ass kissing, blow jobs, and other behind the scenes stuff that goes on and it all revolves around money. It's actually quite sickening.

If it was not for patents, we'd all be driving zero emission cars that run on renewable energy and get 1000km+ range in a single charge, and all our power would come from renewable sources that are easier and cheaper to use. We'd probably be 100 years ahead technology wise with everything we see around us from ways to grow crops, travel, compute, you name it. But no, these stupid bureaucrats have to keep us behind because of stupid reasons.

 

[Bignate603]

If it was not for patents, we'd all be driving zero emission cars that run on renewable energy and get 1000km+ range in a single charge, and all our power would come from renewable sources that are easier and cheaper to use. We'd probably be 100 years ahead technology wise with everything we see around us from ways to grow crops, travel, compute, you name it. But no, these stupid bureaucrats have to keep us behind because of stupid reasons.

Yeah, that's pretty much crazy. If that was even possible someone would have done it and patented it. That would have given them a legal monopoly and if the product is that awesome they would have made billions. Patents don't stall innovation, they create financial incentive to innovate.

If we didn't have patents R&D would grind to a halt and small inventors would never have a chance to get any benefit from their hard work. If there is no protection for your ideas there is very little incentive to actually come up with anything new. Why would you put time, effort, and money into something that anyone could take advantage of?

I agree that the patent system as it stands now has some major issues, but there needs to be some protection for ideas to create an incentive for people to continue to create new ones.

 

[Red Squirrel]

I think it's the opposite. Small inventors are scared to come up with something only for a big company to scoop it up from under them and they wont be allowed to even use what they came up with first. Or they might have an idea but they can't use it because it's already patented. Only the big rich companies are capable of patenting some of these crazy silly things.

How often do you hear of inventors who came up with something in their garage, the patent office hears of it, and you never hear of this person ever again. I even wonder if these people get locked up. Anything that could potentially bring down the oil industry is always very touchy and quickly put on the shelf and never heard of again. Look at tesla, most of his work was destroyed because the government feared it.

True inventors want to invent something to try to change the world, not to make money.

 

[CanOWorms]

I think it's the opposite. Small inventors are scared to come up with something only for a big company to scoop it up from under them and they wont be allowed to even use what they came up with first.

That's an argument for having patents, not against.

Or they might have an idea but they can't use it because it's already patented. Only the big rich companies are capable of patenting some of these crazy silly things.

Patents are easily affordable by a company. Small companies would also have patent applications in order to secure venture funding.

How often do you hear of inventors who came up with something in their garage, the patent office hears of it, and you never hear of this person ever again. I even wonder if these people get locked up. Anything that could potentially bring down the oil industry is always very touchy and quickly put on the shelf and never heard of again.

Never heard of that. Sounds ridiculous, too.

Look at tesla, most of his work was destroyed because the government feared it.

He also had hundreds of patents.

True inventors want to invent something to try to change the world, not to make money.

Nah, inventors want to do many things. Make cool stuff, but also make a living off of it.

 

[Bignate603]

I think it's the opposite. Small inventors are scared to come up with something only for a big company to scoop it up from under them and they wont be allowed to even use what they came up with first. Or they might have an idea but they can't use it because it's already patented. Only the big rich companies are capable of patenting some of these crazy silly things.

How often do you hear of inventors who came up with something in their garage, the patent office hears of it, and you never hear of this person ever again. I even wonder if these people get locked up. Anything that could potentially bring down the oil industry is always very touchy and quickly put on the shelf and never heard of again. Look at tesla, most of his work was destroyed because the government feared it.

Pretty much everything you said is either conjecture or faulty logic. Small inventors can just as easily patent things as big corporations can. Also, all of those inventors that patent these amazing things then disappear usually disappear because their ideas didn't pan out. When you file for a patent you never have to prove that your idea actually works. The patent office is full of garbage that isn't worth the paper that its printed on.

True inventors want to invent something to try to change the world, not to make money.

Then there are very few "true inventors" out there. The majority of people that spend a long amount of time and effort trying to come up with new ideas want to get some benefit out of it. For most this is financial.

 

[Ronstang]

Blame Congress, if they wrote the laws in such a way as to not leave a lot of crap open for the courts to decide then lawyers wouldn't be able to fuck them up.

Hmm, I think I already covered that. What is Congress mostly comprised of? Lawyers.

 

[13Gigatons]

The electric car has already been designed, built and destroyed because it was a threat to the oil company profits.

 

[Bignate603]

The electric car has already been designed, built and destroyed because it was a threat to the oil company profits.

I can't tell if you're being sarcastic or if you really are this irrationally paranoid.

 

[Ns1]

I think it's the opposite. Small inventors are scared to come up with something only for a big company to scoop it up from under them and they wont be allowed to even use what they came up with first.

I suppose they would want to patent their invention to prevent something like this from happening...

 

[SMOGZINN]

Small inventors can just as easily patent things as big corporations can.

This is simply not true.

"Getting even a simple patent approved can cost up to $10,000 domestically and $100,000 or more for worldwide rights" - Jeffrey Labovitz, licensing office acting director​

I don't know about you, but I don't have $10k that I can afford to gamble on a patent, much less $100,000. Understand that much of that money is gone no matter if you get the patent or not. Large companies have worked to make the patent process to expensive for most people.

Also, all of those inventors that patent these amazing things then disappear usually disappear because their ideas didn't pan out. When you file for a patent you never have to prove that your idea actually works. The patent office is full of garbage that isn't worth the paper that its printed on.

This is true, but it is also true that inventers that have patents that work are chewed up and spit out by the system. As someone already said a patent is only worth it if you can defend it. It is very hard for a small company to defend a patent against something like Apple.
So, even if you manage to get the 10k together to patent your idea, you could be buried under hundreds of thousands of dollars of lawsuits by a large company. All before you are even allowed to sell your product.

They system has been usurped by large corporations that have set up the rules to ensure that they can crush any competition that is smaller then them.