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wrt Apple, I meant to add that in addition to suing everyone (I would not let Jobs off the hook!!), they are also guilty of being the copy cat... but they've done lots of good industrial design + overall product development is good + creative... whether or not I like all his products, Jobs is to a large extent a visionary (if a bit of a madman)...
The case of the whistle maker (which indeed nearly killed itself through legal costs, as you say a case of just enough rope there), the copy was a blatant + complete copy, not just a patentable or industrial design feature like one might see as common elements of mp3 players...
patent law really is a game. I'm not a lawyer, I've worked on the technical side of patents in industry (high tech) as a side aspect of my design duties... but for a company with enough resources, it gives that piece of paper that says "we developed it first" for use in court. The triple damages for knowingly infringing on a patent is a good deterrent, but of course one has to prove it (and protection is only in the jurisdictions for which one owns patents!)... but the state does nothing to help other than giving that structure... certainly in high tech, the development costs of IP can be staggering + to have someone take your ideas + run them through production without incurring the development cost is not only unfair, it is a disincentive to real economic progress... imho... so what if the consumer gets it cheaper once... nobody's going to invest in a similar development project the next time + society misses out on advancements! remember of course, one can use a patent to produce something + pay the patent owner a negotiated royalty (ie pay for the development costs instead of stealing them)... also note it's only protected for about 20 years (give or take)...
there is some balance between the "game" element of patents + the value of protecting one's work... certainly some of the claims can be pretty outrageous! but that's why (when writing one) you start with the broadest possible claim + narrow down in steps - you want the broadest possible protection... lots of stuff gets accepted uncontested + as a result there's tons of prior art that gets missed (nevermind stuff published elsewhere)... just because your patent gets accepted doesn't mean it will stand up in court! but of course one has to find the prior art to defeat it... many times it's also advantageous to produce defensive patents (for things you'll never make) to check a competitor's products (and that has an economic downside)... it's a game... not all perfect, but the basic premise is still useful for protecting good solid developments if your company is sufficiently financially capable...
copyright, trademark, and industrial design IP law is very different (+ I know much less about them)... actually, surely Shakespeare's idea "stealing" would be just fine with the copyright laws, as most of the source material was more than 50 years old, no? and besides, he changed the names + the settings + put it all into iambic frigging pentameter... that must be enough, at least more than some rap artists do? (not that I have anything against rap btw)... like I said though, I'm in no way an expert in that domain!
James...
posted by 69.63.58...
, Thu, 6 Jan 2011 23:03:23
, Fri, 7 Jan 2011 15:31:58, Fri, 7 Jan 2011 16:23:21, Sun, 9 Jan 2011 03:24:46
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