With 'open innovation,' no idea is left behind

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Jefferson's view

Jefferson was philosophically opposed to patents. Like Richard Stallman, he despised the idea of "Intellectual Property". Jefferson himself said, "If nature has made any one thing less susceptible than all others of exclusive property, it is the action of the thinking power called an idea, which an individual may exclusively possess as long as he keeps it to himself; but the moment it is divulged, it forces itself into the possession of everyone, and the receiver cannot dispossess himself of it...He who receives an idea from me, receives instructions himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. That ideas should be spread from one to another over the globe, for the moral and mutual instruction of man, and improvement of his condition, seems to have been peculiarly and benevolently designed by nature ... Inventions then cannot, in nature, be a subject of property."

Jefferson would have loved Open Source Software.

Nevertheless, this same man wrote the Patent Law of 1793. You REALLY think his understanding of this law was that it was to make inventors wealthy? No: the purpose of is exactly as stated in the Constitution: "To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts..." The framers neither lied nor concealed their intent. The hurdles you go through to obtain a patent, the limitation of its term, the rights you are temporarily granted are all balanced against the goal of how best to serve the public interest.

Though inventions cannot, in nature, be a subject of property, people often need incentive to reveal the details of their inventions. Otherwise they would be maintained as trade secrets, to the benefit of the originators alone. The limited-time monopoly of the invention accorded to the inventor by the patent is the incentive for him to fully disclose the invention; it's not the purpose of the patent itself. And, of course, it's up to the inventor to capitalize on the invention.

Posted by: dave.leigh@...   Posted on: 07/22/06 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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