MEPIS Community Forum

are not patent wars fun?

apple's misattribution of innovation goes back to palo alto and a visit to xerox. the mouse, gui, etc. were all xerox innovations that apple glommed on to.

I've never thought that Apple was any smarter than other manufacturers. Especially after the 128 MB Mac was released.

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Remember the Apple Lisa?

Therein lies the problem with our patent system: The Patent Office rubber stamping invalid patent applications and leaving it to the courts to sort out the mess they created.

Copyrights are even a bigger mess. I was shocked to learn that the Lone Cypress on the 17-mile drive is copyrighted by the Pebble Beach Association. That's right. The Pebble Beach Association actually copyrighted a tree, created by nature and not by them. Nighttime photographs of the Eiffel Tower when it is lit up are also copyrighted, and fees must be paid to the Société Nouvelle d'Exploitation de la Tour Eiffel to publish such images. Thankfully, daytime photographs are not restricted (yet). So if you're in Paris, you're still allowed to take snapshots of the tower in daylight. I wonder when someone will get around to copyrighting the Grand Canyon or sunsets over the Pacific Ocean.

It goes deeper than that. The courts sort out bad, confusing and incomplete legislation in general. Some would argue that is their function, but there is responsibility of legislatures and regulatory agencies to get it right in the first place.

True, there has always been bad legislation. However, I remember a time when the Patent Office was the first line of defense in screening out ideas that were prior art or that were clearly obvious. In other words, they used to exercise something called discretion. Today, that discretion is gone. Anyone can claim another's idea as their own, as long as it isn't already nailed down by a patent. This makes the Patent Office's job much easier because they don't have to examine the actual merits of an idea; they only have to do a simple patent search, which any patent lawyer can do.

It puts a big load on the courts though.