this post was submitted on 20 Aug 2023
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Patents
Before I agree with that one I'd have to add some more details. Patents--entering the details of your invention into the public record in exchange for temporary exclusive right-of-way over the monetization of your product, after which it becomes public domain for others to expand upon--is a good idea. It hasn't been managed particularly well of late, but the concept is sound.
If anything, copyright's cancer is more advanced.
Copyrights as a concept are great. They're meant to protect inventors/creators by giving them guaranteed exclusivity over the implementation of an idea or the sale and use of a product.
The problem is the fucking things can be held by corporations, and keep getting extended to ridiculously long durations.
The concept of the patent office is a genuine one if too idealistic. Having been through the process it did feel like they pushed back for revisions with the sole intention of squeezing some more money out of the filer. Perhaps like insurance companies rejecting every claim initially.
The protection it affords is questionable. It's really just a 1st place ribbon you can bring to court if you have the money to sue somebody copying you... A lot of that is glorified brand warfare: if you're too similar to WD40 they'll sue you regardless of what's in your can.
Though originally encouraged to be layman friendly it now strongly uses overly technical jargon to obscure the invention while still legally protecting it.
That said, it holds a lot of collective knowledge that us nerd types can reference when innovating. Otherwise that knowledge is locked up in private corporate data stores or college curriculums. It's the original open source repo. It eeks out a win in the big picture despite the abuses capitalism inflicts on it.