[analog31]

It's been my understanding that the blockchain is precisely an experiment in what can be accomplished without laws and enforcement, albeit on top of a mountain of conventional infrastructure. Arbitraging energy prices, and laundering money, are only two possible uses. NFT's are another. A decentralized patent system without enforcement was previously something we could only imagine, but now we can try it out.

[UncleMeat]

Isn't the whole point of a patent system the enforcement part? If you don't care about enforcement, you can just publish ideas to your personal blog or arxiv or whatever.

[analog31]

That would have been my guess too, but it doesn't preclude the experiment. I personally think there's more to it than pure enforcement. Coherent standards for what counts as an invention, and a well defined expiry term, are two things that attracted adherence to the patent system. Without them, patents would be too much of a mess to enforce. Those things have evolved over time within the existing patent system, and depend on not only statute but also case law. I don't see how anything like that can build up independent of having a robust government operating over the long term.

On the other hand we already have "copyright without enforcement" for recorded music, via file sharing.

Disclosure: I have 20 patents.

[JJMcJ]

Don Lancaster, who doesn't think much of patents, recommended when you have an idea, publish it immediately. That puts it in the "prior art" and makes it harder to enforce a patent covering the concepts.

[analog31]

Indeed, "defensive publication" can be a viable IP strategy when you're working in a quickly evolving space. Another is a provisional patent application which is much cheaper than a full blown application.

It's still worth at least chatting with a patent lawyer (which I'm not) to make sure what you think is sufficient as a defensive publication, actually is.

[antonvs]

> It's been my understanding that the blockchain is precisely an experiment in what can be accomplished without laws and enforcement

Some people seem to think that, perhaps misled by words like "trustless" that are applied very narrowly to blockchain technology.

But the reality is there's almost nothing about blockchain that helps with these trust issues. If I order a physical product and pay in advance with crypto, I have no recourse except a legal one if the seller doesn't deliver. You can set up escrow systems but then you need to trust the escrow provider, and you still need to somehow deal with hard to verify claims like "I didn't receive my package."

That's just one example. In almost every area in which blockchain is "an experiment in what can be accomplished without laws and enforcement," you'll find the actual situation is that it's a learning exercise for those who don't understand why laws and enforcement are needed - or, a way to avoid laws and enforcement for those engaging in illegal activities.

> A decentralized patent system without enforcement was previously something we could only imagine, but now we can try it out.

How? Put your invention on a blockchain and anyone can copy it without consequence. The primary purpose of patents is lost without enforcement.