Although patents have had issues in the past, they are
ultimately a source of protection for inventions. Similar to the idea of
copyright, they help prevent a new idea from getting sold and miscredited. For example, in the pharmaceutical industry, when company A spends billions of dollars to produce a new drug, it is important that they are protected by a patent because company B may avoid spending billion of dollars to produce the same product by stealing the invention. This does not mean that the invention cannot get used or sold, rather it protects from others using or selling it. Although certain jurisdictions hold in each
country about patents, they are ultimately a source of protection for inventions all around the world . Patents ensure by law that your property remains yours.
True innovators should be protected by patents. Unfortunately there are many people who would prefer to use patents as a weapon instead of a shield. Patents in technology have become too broad, and ideas often proceed actual application with excessive scope. We need to protect innovators, but not at the expensive of those that would actually make inventions useful to society.
ReplyDeletePatents really are vital to give credit to the inventor. It is just so unfortunate that many companies abuse the system by broadly defining patents and buying and using patents just for the purpose of being able to sue and not creating something innovative.
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