That fruity Banana Republic Thing
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HaLLanHype
- Novice
- Posts: 184
- Joined: 10 Mar 2005, 00:58
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HaLLanHype
- Novice
- Posts: 184
- Joined: 10 Mar 2005, 00:58
What people are saying is that there is a huge difference between Patents and Copyrights.
The thing about software development is that good ideas are basically a dime a dozen. Good ideas grow on trees. However, being able to actually write code that implements the idea is really hard by comparison to thinking the idea up.
Great example - the Amazon.com "one click" business. Anyone can think that up, in fact, more than being something that people would "think up," it is something that some people would naturally come to as the only solution to the "buying stuff online" idea, rather than the shopping cart model.
Actually coding that, is kinda hard.
Patents are for ideas, and mean that no one can copy a patented idea, even if they do so completely from scratch, if the code the thing completely of their own design. More frighteningly, even if they do a vastly better job, it is prohibited - so, for example, even if M$ codes a buggy, terrible product, and patents the idea, no one can legally make something else that actually works.
Copyrights apply to things you actually make with the idea, like the actual code that gets the job done.
The fallout of this is that, in a world without patents, someone could "copy" amazon's one-click system, but they would have go through the arduous, process of writing their own system, with completely original code, to do the same thing.
In a world with patents, even if you don't steal the idea, if you legitimately come up with the idea on your own, and write all of your own code to do it, it's illegal.
Many people believe that that is how things should be with software, because it is so retardedly easy to come up with software ideas, but so hard to come up with software implementations.
Keep in mind that, even without patents, copyrights protect the code you write, so that someone can't steal your work.
"No mr. butterfly, it doesn't matter that you independently evolved wings, and weren't trying to "copy" us birds by stealing our DNA, but it's illegal."
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The other dirty secret about patents is that they offer no protection for the little guys, because small companies can't afford to pay for court costs against a big company.
The thing about software development is that good ideas are basically a dime a dozen. Good ideas grow on trees. However, being able to actually write code that implements the idea is really hard by comparison to thinking the idea up.
Great example - the Amazon.com "one click" business. Anyone can think that up, in fact, more than being something that people would "think up," it is something that some people would naturally come to as the only solution to the "buying stuff online" idea, rather than the shopping cart model.
Actually coding that, is kinda hard.
Patents are for ideas, and mean that no one can copy a patented idea, even if they do so completely from scratch, if the code the thing completely of their own design. More frighteningly, even if they do a vastly better job, it is prohibited - so, for example, even if M$ codes a buggy, terrible product, and patents the idea, no one can legally make something else that actually works.
Copyrights apply to things you actually make with the idea, like the actual code that gets the job done.
The fallout of this is that, in a world without patents, someone could "copy" amazon's one-click system, but they would have go through the arduous, process of writing their own system, with completely original code, to do the same thing.
In a world with patents, even if you don't steal the idea, if you legitimately come up with the idea on your own, and write all of your own code to do it, it's illegal.
Many people believe that that is how things should be with software, because it is so retardedly easy to come up with software ideas, but so hard to come up with software implementations.
Keep in mind that, even without patents, copyrights protect the code you write, so that someone can't steal your work.
"No mr. butterfly, it doesn't matter that you independently evolved wings, and weren't trying to "copy" us birds by stealing our DNA, but it's illegal."
-------------
The other dirty secret about patents is that they offer no protection for the little guys, because small companies can't afford to pay for court costs against a big company.
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Bjørn
- Manasource
- Posts: 1438
- Joined: 09 Dec 2004, 18:50
- Location: North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
- Contact:
Just to note that patenting ideas is quite a recent development and patents used to actually be about inventions, which _included_ the hard work of designing and specifying how to build something that actually worked. If somebody would solve the same idea differently, the patent wouldn't apply to that person.