Think we'll be richer without patents? Think again
Posted in Business, 28th August 2012 13:43 GMT
Analysis Relax, everyone. While the patent system is far from perfect, a remarkably common-sense jury decision last week in the Apple-Samsung patent trial has clarified that system's purpose and strengths as the "lifeblood of business", as inventor James Dyson calls it.
Putting powerful short-term legal protections under inventions is overwhelmingly more convincing than any mooted alternative. We're all richer for it. And the verdict has also been good news in an unexpected way: it's a fillip for the jury system too. Much to the distress of intellectual property "experts", this is a small victory for democracy over technocracy, and against the administration of justice by self-selecting elites.
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Putting powerful short-term legal protections under inventions is overwhelmingly more convincing than any mooted alternative. We're all richer for it. And the verdict has also been good news in an unexpected way: it's a fillip for the jury system too. Much to the distress of intellectual property "experts", this is a small victory for democracy over technocracy, and against the administration of justice by self-selecting elites.
Read More