Quote:
Originally Posted by Worldwalker
Nothing.
But a company keeping a stealth patent for a very trivial "design" hidden until a competitor independently designs and markets such a product, then springing it as a weapon to stifle competition, is very, very wrong.
The purpose -- the original purpose -- of patents is to keep trade secrets from being lost, and knowledge from being hidden, by offering a limited monopoly in exchange for publishing the details of an invention, so that it is public record forever and so that other inventors can study it and learn from it. They were never intended to be weapons to use against another company instead of competing fairly with it in the marketplace. The one-click patent, to pick on a previous Amazon demonstration of their preference for litigation over competition, is a perfect example of what patents are not meant for.
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Totally agree. I would be very disappointed in Amazon for pulling such a low blow. People have definitely forgotten the original purpose of patents, and that is a shame. If companies keep attacking each other with patents, it's probably better that they be eliminated altogether.