The reasons people are for/against patents are political. A rightist view would be that patents allow first-to-the-finish-line inventors to reap financial awards that lead to success and freedom. A leftist view would be that the opportunity cost of patents is an increased cost (analogous to a tax) on everyone else in the form of licensing fees and barred entry to markets as improvements in science and technology make patents more obvious than innovative.
If we don't reform the system by at least reducing patent durations to something reasonable like 3-5 years, then that will create an incentive to operate outside the market. People will just use open source and 3D printing to build their own stuff, rather than purchasing it from someone else. In other words, more patents = bigger black market and smaller market/profits for those operating legally.
It's not a good look anymore to favor policies which encourage corruption. Other examples of unintended consequences include the War on Drugs, the Citizens United decision, NAFTA, etc etc etc. We know better now and we can do better, rather than letting special interests dictate the manner in which we do business.
> A rightist view would be that patents allow first-to-the-finish-line inventors to reap financial awards that lead to success and freedom. A leftist view would be that the opportunity cost of patents is an increased cost
Patents as originally formulated were to incentivize public disclosure of new techniques for building things. Portland cement is a great example: the company could have kept the formula secret and profited significantly, but instead a patent was filed, they got a short monopoly, and for over a century we have enjoyed the benefits of a publicly known formula. Pure ideas (like math and physics) were considered non-patentable.
If we can reform patents to disallow patenting software (and all other pure "ideas" with no physical realization), I think that will continue to help encourage public disclosure of helpful techniques (like Portland cement) without all the stupid baggage of software patents.
For example -- in my opinion, it would be great if SpaceX were to file for and receive one or more patents for their new Raptor engine, but not for any of the software used to run it. The patent(s) ought to read like their internal documentation for building one. Perhaps the new law could require all internal documents supporting the manufacture of the item be disclosed, unredacted, along with the patent application. Maybe also include stipulations that would prevent disclosure online or to countries the USA doesn't share intelligence with.
They'd get a monopoly for 18 years, then anyone with enough money could build and sell a full-flow staged methane combustion engine -- something no one but SpaceX has yet achieved.
The reasons people are for/against patents are political. A rightist view would be that patents allow first-to-the-finish-line inventors to reap financial awards that lead to success and freedom. A leftist view would be that the opportunity cost of patents is an increased cost (analogous to a tax) on everyone else in the form of licensing fees and barred entry to markets as improvements in science and technology make patents more obvious than innovative.
If we don't reform the system by at least reducing patent durations to something reasonable like 3-5 years, then that will create an incentive to operate outside the market. People will just use open source and 3D printing to build their own stuff, rather than purchasing it from someone else. In other words, more patents = bigger black market and smaller market/profits for those operating legally.
It's not a good look anymore to favor policies which encourage corruption. Other examples of unintended consequences include the War on Drugs, the Citizens United decision, NAFTA, etc etc etc. We know better now and we can do better, rather than letting special interests dictate the manner in which we do business.