It is probably in a lot of people's mind (well, it's given the no.1 rank for a reason). People might be like 'oh what? no way, then how are people's inventions protected? I mean, the patent itself doesn't last forever already, now you're granting people rights to overwrite them?' when they first hear about this little piece of fact. Understandable, patents are known to us as devices that protect inventions and intellectual properties. However, the other side of patents is always easily forgotten (at least to most of us) – to create positive reinforcement in industry and to promote efficiency, production, and thus general living standard of society. Companies are given the right to prevent others from producing their 'ideas', and in turns be incentivized to spend more money in their R&D to further create better products (which they can make more $$ from) and for us to consume. It is only natural for the US Patent and Trademark Office to grant patents to other firms or individuals that can improve other patent inventions. Or else industry giants would just spend reckless money to reinforce and maintain their patent status and sue other firms instead of also creating new inventions and exploring new ideas.
The purpose of patents, at least to me, is not only to make sure firms have their share of profits, but also to put better, smarter, more efficient (cheaper), and more advanced products out there for people to consume.
(There is another article about patents that is quite interesting: Patents Facts and Myths)
Wow, I did not know that. I am definitely going to read the article and find out more things about patents that I had a misconception about. Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteDefinetly didn't know about this. But good to know. If you think about it, it's the right thing to do. People shouldn't just be able to sit on a patent and develop it once and just let it sit. They should continue to develop it as the world continues to advance. We get updates for our phones all the time.
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