I don’t have much to add this this story… aside from the fact that Morfik are utter jerks. Jerks Jerks Jerks. Although I probably don’t need to say that because anybody wanting to patent technology is in fact a jerk… well I suppose the real Jerks are the American government and legal system that honour some of the crazy American patents out there. Alas….
On television last night Duncan Bannatyne from Dragons Den was saying that although a Patent Lawyer can tell you whether or not something is indeed patentable they can not tell you whether or not it is a good idea. In fact they are more then likely to tell you that it is regardless, even if your idea obviously sucks! This is “obviously” always in their interest.
Morfik look as though they patented something that was already done. Jerks…
I feel really bad since I’m responsible for the story at Slashdot. I thought the patent was awarded, but this is only a patent application, not an actual patent.
That said, whether you like patents or not, unless software patents are abolished, it is necessary for firms to apply for them to protect themselves from their competitors filing for them, backdating the evidence, and essentially stealing the invention.
You not bad!
They are still jerks and patents should be abolished – especially ones that stop innovation, I mean you just shouldn’t be able to stop technology, and if somebody wants to make a product that is better then yours they should be free to do so. If anything patents should only be for a few years and they should only stop people from making exact replicas – so copyright would probably be better anyway.
What would have happened if Microsoft patented TCPIP… there would not even be a slashdot.org to make mistakes on because the jerks at Microsoft would be charging you like a wounded bull. Actually the internet is a great example of something positive for the world that if things went a little differently might not have happened – imagine if it wasn’t here today because of a freaking patent – imagine all the good ideas that never would have been born or recognised. The world we live in today would certainly be different – not sure how but I know it would be significant.
The other patents that boil my blood are medical ones – you get some scientist jerk pharmaceutical company that patents a cure for something (selfish fuckers!!!) the fact that they were probably government funded in the first place makes it even worse. So you pay for the development out of your tax payer dollars and then you can’t afford to take the drug… no wonder people rob chemists. ROB MORE CHEMISTS!!!!
And I don’t feel sorry for the “self funded” medical jerks either. The government should step in and say right thanks for the drug here is 10 million dollars or something. Or a 100 million dollars. I don’t care. Given how much money the US government wastes on their military forces bombing little children in Iraq and ruining even more lives they should also be helping people!
Grrrr,
Dan