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Damascus steel | 1347 comments | Create New Account

Comments belong to whoever posts them. Please notify us of inappropriate comments.

Damascus steel

Authored by: AlanGriffiths on Tuesday, June 12 2012 @ 11:51 AM EDT

There really was a time where designs or manufacturing
methods could be kept secret. For example, the original
method of producing Damascus steel is not known.

In those circumstances there was a genuine social utility to
having them published in return for a temporary monopoly.

Today we have a very different world and even outside of
software there is scant benefit to society from the
publication of a design or method to solve a problem.

Any social benefit from patents is purely indirect: problem
solvers might be motivated to expend more effort on a
solution if they can get a patent on the result.
Occasionally, this may result in a problem being solved that
would otherwise be neglected.

Why anyone thinks any social benefits exist for software
patents is beyond me. (Low cost of entry, rapidly changing
context, etc.)

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Damascus steel - Authored by: Chromatix on Tuesday, June 12 2012 @ 02:05 PM EDT
- Damascus steel - Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, June 12 2012 @ 05:34 PM EDT

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