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by dion.
Original Post: Why the Patent System Inhibits Innovation Today
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Why the Patent System Inhibits Innovation Today looked interesting to me. It does have some good points, but it takes a long time to get to them. The bulk of the commentary surrounds the evolution of open source software.
That is something I talked about over on OpenXource.
I don't agree that the evolution is purely:
Good code succeeds; bad code fails and dies off.
I think there is a lot of great dead code :) Although, it does get back to "what is good code"?
Here is a little more from the article:
It is a sad fact that genetics and bio-engineering are areas today where so many patents are being awarded. Many of us will recall how U.S.-based Ricetec patented Thai Fragrant Jasmine Rice. With such patents being awarded, especially on human genetics, perhaps this line of thought will not hold true for much longer.
The question arises, if a company can crack the genetic makeup of rice and patent it, control its use and for all intents and purposes, own it, what then will happen with all these patents on human genes? Will it mean that in being born, we are infringing on a number of patents -- using the genetic code without a license?
This silly situation started a quarter of a century ago on June 16th, 1980, when some bright microbiologist (who was probably more of a lawyer than a scientist) won a patent for a modified strain of bacteria. Before this, and rightly so, patent law was applied to inventions, not discoveries, and could not be applied at all to living things.
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