Openmoko keyboard mockup

leonardo at lilik.it leonardo at lilik.it
Thu Jan 8 22:40:25 CET 2009


Stefan Monnier wrote:
>> [1] - which is ironic given that they were invented to encourage people to 
>> publish their ideas rather than keep them secret.
> 
> Actually, not so ironic: it basically means that rather than keeping
> them as internal secrets, they get to lock them in
> a government-provided vault.
> 
> IIRC, the history of patents is a bit more interesing than people think,
> and the end result's paradoxes are not as unintended as you'd think.
> But it really should be expected: just as is still the case now (if not
> even more), the (potential) holders of big patent portfolio had a lot
> of leverage.

We're going quite OT, but it's a nice talk.

I thought I posted this link to the list, but instead I replied directly
to Raster. On this topic I found quite interesting this book:
http://levine.sscnet.ucla.edu/general/intellectual/against.htm

Basically, there seems to be no evidence anywhere that patents ever
helped development, in any age and country where applied. Obviously, the
owner of T9 patent are richer then they were in 1995, but in general
they produce more expenses then profits.

leonardo.

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