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Re: A Question of Ethics (was: Overriding Acrobat User Settings)
Subject:Re: A Question of Ethics (was: Overriding Acrobat User Settings) From:Sandy Harris <sandy -at- storm -dot- ca> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Sun, 19 Aug 2001 23:59:38 -0400
Andrew Plato wrote:
> If you build a cool mouse trap and patented it, and then I come along and
> reverse engineer it to build an exact copy...that is stealing.
Actually, one of the fundamental principles of patent law is that the inventor
publishes the design in return for some protection. I don't have to reverse
engineer it. The important design ideas are in the patent.
It is perfectly legal for me to build and use mousetraps using your patented
design. However, I cannot sell them without a license from you, at least not
for the 17 years that the patent runs.
> You
> invested a lot of effort (money, time, etc.) to build your mouse trap and
> no individual or organization should be able to steal it.
Yes, but there are trade-offs. Eventually the technology enters the public
domain and everyone can use it.
Take radial tires, for example. Michelin had the patent. All the other
European tire companies -- Pirelli, Dunlop, ... -- licensed it and were
selling radials by 1970 or so. No doubt Michelin did well off this.
The US tire companies claimed at that time that there was no real benefit,
but they discovered some merit in the design right about the time the patent
ran out. Suddenly in the mid-80s they all introduced "revolutionary new,
improved" products -- radials, based on the Michelin design.
That is how patents are supposed to work. The inventor gets a reasonable
profit for innovating and eventually the ideas become public property,
for anyone else to use, improve on, ...
The catch is that providing the protection to inventors has a cost.
European buyers paid higher costs for tires through the 70s because
of those licensing fees. Americans either paid for imported radials
or continued using bias-ply tires. Likely some died as a result.
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