This question was asked at the Dropping Knowledge event on 9th September by Etienne Savard, 34, Beloeil, Quebec, Canada. To find out more about Dropping Knowledge check out our blog:
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2006-09-28 23:44:43 · 160 answers · asked by Anonymous in Arts & Humanities ➔ Philosophy
People act because there is incentive. While some may create wonderful contraptions to excercise their imagination, they would not have time to do so if it could not be profitable. They would be spending all their time working a job because, without patent laws, inventions would not bring profit. It is the very ability to sell an invention or innovation and make a profit which prompts innovation and invention. Without patent laws, any invention would instantly be copied by many people which would mean the original inventor would not make the profit, but whoever could afford mass scale advertising would make the profit while the inventor would suffer in silence. Patents and copyrights enable creativity and innovation.
2006-09-29 10:48:55 · answer #1 · answered by sisoyme 2 · 9⤊ 1⤋
Well, well - How much more knowledge can Dropping Knowledge drop? I think the knowledge pool was drained long ago for you. Once again you have reached new heights of stupidity! If patent laws were eliminated, then only the billion dollar corporations would benefit from ANY invention! Or the withholding of an invention, whichever the case may be. Is everybody in Canada this ignorant? Patent laws are not what restrains creativity or innovation, sir or ma'am, whichever you may be - big business that is making a fortune on things being the way they are, and buying someone's idea and shelving it is what does that, as in the case of the man that designed a carburetor that would get over a hundred MPG, but the oil industry relieved us of that pesky invention since it would have cost them billions of dollars a month! Once again, sir I say get your facts together before you ask such foolish questions.
2006-09-30 05:52:38 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 2⤋
I do not quite understand from where this notion that patent laws are intended to dampen creativity has come. In fact, the fear of strict implementation of these laws works in favour of safeguarding creativity.If thee were no laws or if their implemenaion was not rigid there wold have been no motivation for developing anything new for the moment it was out it would have been shamelessly copies by unscruplous elements to make profits.Even presuming they had gratefully acknowledgled the contrbution of the original inventor that would have been small satisfaction for the poor fellow because he would hve continued to remain poor or even bankrupt having spent his last fatrhing in procueing the wherewithal for deelopment the instrument.As it is he can take out a patent and anybody who wants to be benefitted from it has to pay the necessary fees to the innovator.This gave further incentive for the inventor to further finetune the process or develop another line.Even with the strict papents laws loopholes remain and unscruplous elements take advantage to escape the liability of payment and the matter hang for years in courts and the inventor left high and dry.The Soviet Union when it was there had not signed the international convention of copyright and the world outside Russia was deprived of their advantage so far as Russia was cncerned. Also the Russins made clandesine exports of the patented prodcts outside and harmed the interest of the non-Communist world.Even the intellectural propety rights were not recognised everywhere and it was only because of pressure from USA that the world joined the internatioal convention in this regard. It would ,therefore, be seen that the patent laws not only do not stop creativity and innovation but actually encourages these activiies by forstering a atmosphere in their favour.
Patent laws or Intellectual Property Rights laws are
2006-09-30 21:02:34 · answer #3 · answered by Prabhakar G 6 · 2⤊ 1⤋
Because it might restrain creativity and innovation!
Patents give value to an invention, whether that be the new cancer drug or the newest feature to come to your cell phone. Removing that value means that innovation can be discouraged. Why spend the time on research and development if, once completed, the idea will be open and available to the market, without any compensation to the one doing the R&D? And where would our penniless researcher go next?
I'm not maintaining the patent process is perfect, but remember that normal, everyday enforcement of patents doesn't make the news, but suspected abuse of the patent system, makes headlines (e.g. SCO v. IBM). I would suspect that is because patent and other IP abuses are rare, meaning that the system works the majority of time, if not the vast majority of time.
2006-10-02 08:03:30 · answer #4 · answered by Polymath 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Dumping patent laws and allowing everyone to have access to knowledge equally and benefit would be ideal but sadly our current society is not. This would be alright in a society where people have a thirst for knowledge and are not encompassed in “foolish” meaningless greed.
The question being asked is very vague. It is only a part of what would make a perfect society. It cannot be implemented in this kind of a corrupt and most stupid society. If only people get that if they work together we would have advanced into the year 4000 AD. But instead wars in the name of religion and other acts of madness are being carried out by sentient beings.
All the answers here are proof enough of human idiocy. Answers such as...... how else would the inventors get cash, or the idea would be stolen otherwise.
Its not a question of steeling the idea, and good or bad (which is meaningless) but just being smart. Cooperation in a perfect society will only benefit everyone in it. If all of us did use our brains together with only the action as our soul intent we wouldn’t need patents.....
So till an ideal society comes along (and it wont be too long, ill make it happen in a few years) patents fit perfectly in this society.
2006-10-01 08:10:31 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
Patent laws are there to protect those who create and innovate. Imagine someone working on a new product, investing money, time and energy into this product only to discover that on the day of its launch anyone can copy it and mass produce it without so much as a thank-you.
Patent laws exist to stimulate creativity and innovation. This is because they prevent unscrupulous companies from copying new inventions and benefiting from them without having done any of the hard work or having invested anything in it.
Why should anyone work hard to create something if it can be copied the day after? Companies would stop investing in research and development and just let others do all the hard work for them.
People who design new products need to be protected so they can receive some benefit from their investment. Otherwise nobody would bother.
2006-09-30 12:51:10 · answer #6 · answered by markspanishfly 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Because that would just be a step away from communism. The whole point of the patent process would be to protect the good ideas and keep out the junk ones. A patent may cost a bit of money, but that would be to keep only the real success-minded folks in the game. Free enterprise. Every dumb idea should not be sprouted into fruition. It doesn't restrain creativity, your idea would stunt growth by taking away a challenge and competitive edge inventions thrive from.
2006-10-01 14:55:02 · answer #7 · answered by tankgirl190 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
it isn't regularly restraining creativity - that's extra motivating it. maximum folk, as we've discovered from many failed Marxist fashions, are inspired through money. agencies attempt to create a sparkling drugs, as an social gathering, because they understand the 'recipe' won't be able for use through the different organisation via patent regulations. this enables the organisation who created the drug to re-coop the cost of the creation of the drug and to also make a earnings. might want to you paintings flat out for no earnings? Patent regulations insure that creativity and innovation are take care of and may want to correctly be shared without huge losses to the guy who invented the product.
2016-12-06 08:59:35 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Creativity and innovation exist with or without patent laws. The laws simply mean that if I make something cool that I wish to make a profit off of, I can protect the idea.
If I have no desire to profit, I can share the knowledge freely in any of a million ways. Of course, if someone else profits off it, I have no protection.
What brilliant ideas do the Dropping Knowledge people think are not going forward?
2006-10-01 11:24:30 · answer #9 · answered by Madkins007 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
I don't agree with getting rid of them, just loosening them a little bit. With all of the lawsuits over patents, noone is reaching their full potential. I would agree with it if there was a way to change human nature, though. we want to gain something from what we do, and the problem is that there enough people who prey on smaller powers that the patent laws have to exist. If there was a way to support all patents and make everything fair, it would be ok to drop the laws altogether. But that's not going to happen anytime soon. And there is also the fact that patents in a way encourage creativity. If someone could sell anything they want, they'd only look at what worked and say OK, I'll use that. And then the one who came up with the idea doesn't think that's fair, so they get mad and sue.
Would I like to dump all of those laws? Yes. Do I think it's going to happen anytime soon? No. But we'll see.
2006-10-01 14:34:01 · answer #10 · answered by skatedrummer93 3 · 0⤊ 2⤋