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Difference between revisions of "20 years is too long"

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Patents last for at least 20 years.  This term has been set by [[TRIPS]] (art 33).
Patent procedures are too slow, the uncertainty lasts too long, and patents last too long for software.
 
 
 
==20 year duration of patents==
 
 
 
Patents last for 20 years.  This term has been set by [[TRIPS]].
 
  
 
Patents exist to encourage researchers to publish their ideas.  The researcher gets a temporary monopoly, and in return, society gets access to the idea when the patent expires.
 
Patents exist to encourage researchers to publish their ideas.  The researcher gets a temporary monopoly, and in return, society gets access to the idea when the patent expires.
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Similarly, it doesn't take 20 years to figure out how a software package works, so the disclosure with a 20 year delay on your freedom to use the idea, is a pointless deal.  (See: [[The disclosure is useless]])
 
Similarly, it doesn't take 20 years to figure out how a software package works, so the disclosure with a 20 year delay on your freedom to use the idea, is a pointless deal.  (See: [[The disclosure is useless]])
  
==Time required for grant==
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==Related pages on {{SITENAME}}==
In most countries, a granted patent is considered valid starting from the application date.  This means Person A can apply for a patent, and Person B can develop a product.  If Person B looks at all published patents, they will not see Person A's patent application which is still being processed.  If Person A's application is approved, they can immediately accuse Person B of infringing the patent - despite Person B never having had any possibility to know that this idea was patented.
 
 
 
The unfair situation can happen in any field of development, but it's aggravated in the case of software because the development cycle of software is often very fast.
 
  
==Post-grant changes==
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* [[Slow process creates uncertainty]]
In the [[USA]], patent applicants can continue to enlarge the patent within the first two years after it's granted.<ref>http://www.forbes.com/2000/10/13/1013amazon.html</ref>  So if [[Amazon]] searched all existing patents in 1999, and if they found that their [[1-click shopping]] idea wasn't patented, they could still find themselves sued in 2000 or 2001 by someone who later expanded a patent granted after Amazon did its search.
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* [[Invalidating harmful patents#Takes_years]] - the courts system is too slow to work for software developers
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* [[Use software and functionality from 20 years ago]]
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* [[Utility models and innovation patents]] - which have a term of less than 20 years
  
 
==External links==
 
==External links==
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[[Category:Arguments]]
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[[Category: Arguments]]

Revision as of 15:15, 16 September 2014

Patents last for at least 20 years. This term has been set by TRIPS (art 33).

Patents exist to encourage researchers to publish their ideas. The researcher gets a temporary monopoly, and in return, society gets access to the idea when the patent expires.

In software, if you have to avoid using ideas from the past 20 years, your software will be useless. (See: Use software from 20 years ago)

Similarly, it doesn't take 20 years to figure out how a software package works, so the disclosure with a 20 year delay on your freedom to use the idea, is a pointless deal. (See: The disclosure is useless)

Related pages on ESP Wiki

External links

References