b) the entire purpose of the patent system is that ideas can be entered into a register and time-limited monopolies granted by the government in exchange for their public release at the end of the monopoly period.
the only weird part about non-practicing entities -- and I say this from the perspective of a Microsoft employee with no patent cubes yet to his name, who works in the same room as people with 15 -- is that they are effectively outsourcing the entire process of reducing their inventions to practice.
>is that they are effectively outsourcing the entire process of reducing their inventions to practice.
no. I have a few myself. The best purpose of these sh!tty "invention patents" is to protect yourself from somebody patenting that stuff and coming after you later. The worst - it to poison/booby-trap "Monopoly"-style the mental space of ideas so whenever somebody accidentally stumbles across or have no other way than to pass through they would be forced to pay. The trade secret laws wouldn't prohibit me from coming independently on my own with the same or similar idea and executing upon it :
b) the entire purpose of the patent system is that ideas can be entered into a register and time-limited monopolies granted by the government in exchange for their public release at the end of the monopoly period.
the only weird part about non-practicing entities -- and I say this from the perspective of a Microsoft employee with no patent cubes yet to his name, who works in the same room as people with 15 -- is that they are effectively outsourcing the entire process of reducing their inventions to practice.