Sprucing up open source's GPL foundation

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How can I dispute being "right"? In the other part...

... I'm also correct. But there's more for you to consider, I guess.

If the reasons for China's rapid economic growth were to be listed, the failure to enforce IP rights would be far down on the list. (My choice for #1 would be the withdrawal of government from control over commercial activity, but that's a different thread.)

hipparchus2000 wrote:
Witness the vast jump in technology from China where they have an relatively inneffective patent system.
If you take into account China in 1970 to where it is now, the acceleration in technology is totally mindblowing.

I'll grant the growth occurred while piracy was rife and IP enforcement lax. I
've read that early US industrial growth came in part from IP stolen from Britain. And I've read some of the articles by honorable people who believe that theft of IP or at least avoidance of payments to foreigners is essential for rapid growth in developing countries.

That said, countries have to grow up. Part of that process is knowing there are costs to doing business. That includes IP costs.
So China now makes some effort toward controlling piracy and honoring the directives of organizations with enforcement authority.
In the developing countries, the US has assured that every treaty opening the US market includes IP protection in return.

Also, and more specific to patents, I haven't seen China developing substantial amounts of brand new technology, despite the weak patent regime.

No, let's assume observing patent rights is important to any country striving to become prosperous.


hipparchus2000 also wrote:
The guiding direction should be not some stupid notion of Intellectual Property but rather maximising technological innovation. Clearly to say that is the case now is plainly wrong.

If technological innovation is to make a profit, then it has to be protected. Innovation protection is called a patent. To say that ease of patenting should be reduced is to say only that you want fewer patents and thus less innovation.


Can the patent system be changed, even improved? If I thought about it much, I'd probably decide that the patent system could be changed for the better. But I haven't thought about it much because the large companies with many patents will resist fiercely. Why waste my time?

Posted by: Anton Philidor   Posted on: 12/28/04 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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