Patents and Software

(Yes, I am back.  I tired of not writing my thoughts and not having anyone read them.)

For those who don't know me, I actually have a vested interest in the patent system.  I almost became a patent examiner at one point, I was going to be a patent lawyer earlier in life, and currently I am very active in pursuing patents for me original ideas.  If you follow patents you will know that there is a lot of talk recently about the laws in congress currently.  I am not going to discuss them today but I would like to lead you to an interesting article I found: (http://thisismynext.com/2011/08/11/broken-patent-system/).

Rarely is there a conversation on patents that start at basically first principles and tried to bring the debate into that context.  This does that work and I appreciate it.  I think it is often missed how important patents are to the public good.  (The use of copyrights and their length is another conversation entirely.)  I think this posting rights the conversation around patents appropriately for the current times.  Whether or not you agree with software, medical, business, etc. patents you should spend the time reviewing this it is worth your time.

For me I still sit in my position I have had for a long time.  This is the system we have and so I have to work inside of it.  Failure to seek protection for my ideas and inventions would be self-destructive.  However I do notice that there are issues with the current system, mostly due to ambiguity and human nature in charting the course of this section of the U.S. Code through time.  I try to remember that for every bad patent there is a good one out there, someone who was able to monetize their work and get rewarded for their effort.  For every neat new widget there are a million copies 20 years later.  I don't like waiting 20 years but I would rather have that then nothing.  I also realize that not everyone is going to agree and I would like the system to be simplified, I would vote at the ballot for this, but I need someone who is intelligent working towards this end and I currently have little to no hope that the current government (all of them) can do anything about it.

Just a spoonful of sugar...

Most nannies are nice, some are overbearing.  Well the reason.com has a monthly video with their nanny of the month.  It is depressing to watch them all because then you know how stupid most Americans are.  Anyway the feed is here and the most recent one is embedded.

Have you meet 'TED'?

So I am sure many readers of my blog know about TED.  The Wikipedia page is here.  Basically the website is a collection of people talking about things.  :-)  I know sounds boring but the people are really engaging and innovative with their talks in general.  I have added TED to the list of videos to watch with this post.

So today I want to talk briefly about a video staring Philip K. Howard.  He is a long time lawyer and advocate of fixing the justice system. It is a provocative lecture about what is wrong with the current system and what it should be like in theory.  It is interesting.  I think there is a very interesting discussion there and I may go out and buy his book.  It is interesting to think of the difference between the intent of justice and laws and the implication of justice and law, as compared with current justice and laws.  I think there is a real area where things can be improved here.  This is an area I haven't blogged about a lot, usually I blog about reducing overhead of laws and taxes because it infringes on liberties and is counter to productive economic growth.  (Everyone knows I am a fan of less intervention.)  So this is from a different view and is more ethereal, what should it looks like and how do we get there.  Anyway, well worth the 18 minutes to watch.

Updated: Added 'TED' label.

As promised...

I said I would look into the Institute for Justice some more for you.  Well I still will but I have found their youtube channel.  There are a couple of interesting videos on there.  There are also videos from John Stossel's show where he interviews the president of the Institute.  (Related post here, and the granddaddy post here.)

It seems like the Institute for Justice is another Cato Institute or Reason foundation.  Basically a highly libertarian organization.  However what is interesting about the Institute for Justice is that they actively try to help people.  It seems like there is such a huge problem with local and state laws infringing on the rights of people that this is just trying to move a mountain one boulder at a time.  At least someone is helping.

Have a look around the videos.  I'll try to research their cases and come back with some more information later.

Blue Laws

So what is a Blue Law?  A blue law is a law preventing certain kinds of economic activity based on the day or time of the economic transaction.  (For instance selling alcohol on Sundays.)  Why I bring this up is because recently New Jersey is thinking of repealing the blue law in one county.

What I find interesting is that these laws still exist or that they ever did.  I can kinda see the point of it in some ways.  When I lived overseas there was a blue law in the place I was living.  Not only were Sundays out but so were most evenings after 5:00 pm.  I didn't want to shopp anyway I guess.  It was a smaller town not a large one but it was nice.  On Sundays people would walk around, talk to people, relax.  However I do not feel like this was a result of the stores not being open.  It was more just the culture around there.

That being said if you look at the list on the wikipedia site you will see a lot of really dumb exclusions to Sunday sales.  For instance in Illinois you cannot sell a car on a Sunday.  Why?  Because Jesus walked everywhere and Sunday is his day?  Or how about the states/areas which outlaw horse race gambling (but obviously not football gambling).  It seems completely arbitrary who can and who cannot engage in commerce.  If that is the case I say get rid of all of the blue laws completely.  However if you want to prevent all commerce on Sundays then fine but stop making exceptions for various special interests.  In the end it just seems like any kind of law like this is largely unneeded (people can talk the initiative to not shop on their own) and thus they should all be repealed.

I am happy to report there are no laws like that in Washington State where I currently reside.  You can even buy alcohol on Sunday if that is your thing.  :-)