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superxpro12yesterday at 5:44 AM2 repliesview on HN

I really have a hard time accepting software patents. Like amazon patenting the one click to buy shopping cart for example. Crazy Taxi patented a directional arrow... The infamous "nemesis" patent for shadow of mordor.

IDK.... its all bits and bytes. This seems to stifle innovation more than anything imo.


Replies

matheusmoreirayesterday at 5:53 AM

Me too. Intellectual property in general is so incredibly absurd it's actually disgusting, but in the case of patents at least they actually end within a person's lifetime. That's the only way I can cope. Unlike copyright, you and I are going to reap the benefits of those patents one day.

Also, it's just not true that products will be useless by the time their patents expire. Example: semaglutide patents have already expired in my country. Competitors immediately entered the market and it led to prices free falling to about a third of what they used to be. These past few months I had drug reps visit every week with lower and lower prices to the point it became hilarious to watch them try to outmatch each other. So many people are going to benefit from this. Looking forward to the day tirzepatide gets its turn.

croteyesterday at 9:00 AM

What annoys me the most is that they are so damn obvious! I can understand patenting the steam machine, but most software patents are simply the first solution which would come to mind to any developer encountering the same problem.

What's next, I can charge people money for using the number 65234563124 because I'm the first to file a patent for it?

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