Patents

[MrBogosity]

I think this subject DEFINITELY deserves a good reaming for being the bogosity it is.

Some good info: http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/hotline/2009/11/nokias-infringement-suit-against-apple.php

[Travis Retriever]

Maybe you could do one on Intellectual property in general?
I've seen people claim that "Intellectual property (patents) are a part of capitalism because capitalism is about property rights.  Because patents stifle innovation, this is at least one part of capitalism that fails."
Even if I can't rebut it intellectually, I smell the BS quote in this about a mile away...

Also, I'm glad that the person in this article posted the mises dailies against that IP crap.

Here's good story illustrating the problems of patents from my Physics Professor (the same one who talked about Einstein believing in a god (believe it or not!)):

"Our tire manufacturers in this country are among the best because of our technical advantage.  What happens when they patent the process is:  they pay money for a patent, not just in the USA (our patent laws don't extend around the world), they also have to pay for it in about 30 other countries (China, Korea, etc) because when you patent something, it becomes public domain, and thus freely accessible to anyone willing to look.  So the Chinese with their 2 dollar an hour labor with our advanced processing techniques are then able to out compete us, and that's of course not including all the patent lawyer fees..."
To which I responded, while laughing:  "Wouldn't it just both easier and cheaper to just keep the process as a trade secret?"
Loved that story.

[MrBogosity]

Or, better still, have one or more mutual protection societies that inventors can join that do pretty much the same thing, only on a free-market basis.

[Travis Retriever]

Even better.

They discuss patents in the videos I gave in the "Government needed to Fund Science?" thread.
Just so you know.
So there does appear to be overlap of sorts.

[Lord T Hawkeye]

Did you see James Randi's speech where he talked about some of the silly patents out there?  They were so absurd, you wonder what kind of drugs was the patent office on when they approved of them.

The video game industry has been a victim of patent abuse too.  Many of the big name companies want to make force feed back controllers to enhance the gaming experience but they can't because some backwater company bought the patent and just sat on it, doing nothing with it.  ><