Idiocracy

[yakgirl]

I think that girl was just doing that to try to get attention, going on the show to spark an acting career or something, which is actually pretty smart when you come to think of it...got a lot of attention, didn't it?!

[JayB]

One more for the Schumpeter fan:

 

"Patent legislation is one of the few instances of legal recognition of the social functions of profit in capitalist society. "

[prole]

And everyone knows civilization would crumble without it. Just look how everyone stopped making music after free internet file sharing.

[underworld]

look how everyone stopped making music after free internet file sharing

 

cuz artists aren't very smart???

[prole]

look how everyone stopped making music after free internet file sharing

 

cuz artists aren't very smart???

 

No. They're just not "rational".

[JayB]

And everyone knows civilization would crumble without it. Just look how everyone stopped making music after free internet file sharing.

 

I'd imagine that the effect of revoking patent protection would be directly proportional to the capital intensity required to develop or exploit a particular innovation.

 

Not much effect on TruckNutz or the next hippie jam-band, significantly more on optical switching technology, medical devices, etc.

 

I think that others have covered this before, but in the absence of patent protection, those who put their assets at risk developing new innovations will use various other means to protect them that would likely exact a much higher cost than that associated with the profits that accrue to the innovator under existing patent protections.

[Gary_Yngve]

I'd have to say patents are a good thing. It lets industry focus on developing technology with some assurance that a competitor won't market their inventions without having spent the research costs.

 

Otherwise, something like the academic paradigm with obtaining grants and funding would need to be used, which results in much slower progress, due to more limited capital and much time spent begging for money. Additionally, the incentives for academic research are less than the incentives for industry research -- the former won't make you / your company billions of dollars.