On Thu, Aug 13, 2009 at 4:36 AM, David Hobby<hob...@newpaltz.edu> wrote:
> I'd argue that the patent laws are not that poorly > written, the problem is that there's latitude in > their interpretation. I think that may be an > unavoidable problem. Are you including the patents themselves in "patent laws"? Because I think that is the real problem in the system. Other than the existence of the system, which I agree, is full of unavoidable problems. > Why don't you attempt to outline a system of patent > laws that would NOT have latitude in their interpretation? > There are of course trivial examples, such as "have no > patents, ever". I believe that's worse than the present > system. You know we disagree on that, right? I stated my belief earlier. Obviously, I don't think that is an efficient use of my time. Short of eliminating the system all together, which I think is unlikely to happen, then the best thing that could happen is that the number of patents granted by drastically reduced. The vast majority of the patents granted are not beneficial to anyone but the patent-holder. The only collective benefit of the patent system is to disseminate information that might otherwise have been kept secret. Only patents consistent with that criterion should be granted. And that is a small fraction of the ones that currently are granted. > You keep going on about "poorly written laws"--let's > see if you can produce alternatives. I also mentioned too many laws. That is the first problem to attack. If the number were drastically reduced, then perhaps there would be more resources available to carefully craft the remaining laws. Bruce and I have similar views on that -- testing is required. I'd like to see something along the lines of letting people "vote" to choose which system of laws they are subject to -- instead of electing a politician where your vote might not count, your vote chooses for certain what you get (of course, as a practical matter this is only applicable to a subset of total laws). _______________________________________________ http://mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
