Most of the jargon below is hyper-super-flous and probably wrong, use for entertainment and comedic purposes only.

Originally I would like to title such an article ‘Patents are Scams’, but that’s not the entire truth. It’s a rather charming Catch-22 and there’s a lot of nuance, as all things are, naturally.

In a Patent, you literally have to describe everything that your item does and how it does it and how its built.

Which means that if the technology is replicable, then outlaws that don’t care about the laws or other nations who don’t honor your nation’s patent laws may just go ahead and make counterfeit or knock-off technology.

Meaning other people can openly steal your shit, they just can’t commercialize nor distribute such an invention or methodology without granted permissions.

In other ways,

Patents are also a Placeholder and inhibitor for future tech.

Companies, like Pharmaceuticals, will make some generic named product, give a list of effects, and some other details, and file a patent for medical and life saving technology. In other words, you can patent ideas.

Meaning that the market place of ideas isn’t so free, rather it’s government regulated and enforced by (and based on) dreams.

So if someone discovers a miracle drug or methodology, then they can draft up the concept and idea and patent that. Like Vapor Ware Drop shipping, not having the actual product nor inventory, just short selling smoke and mirrors.

Ever wonder why Insulin Prices are so high? It’s due to a lot of factors, mainly the methodology for making Insulin is patented.

But don’t patents expire?

Well, you can renew the patent (or licensing based on agreements) as long as you can develop a better method or enrich the current pre-existing technology or method. This is called a Patent Term Extension, and is only applicable for some things, like drugs. Renew and reroll them patents, keep the show going.

My sources tell me the patent and IP rights along with high manufacturing costs and FDA regulations ultimately lead to an Insulin Trust between three or more Large Pharma Corpos.

Meaning a Corpo can own a patent outright, plan the next fifty improvements, file one of the fifty improvements every few years and hit that ‘snooze’ button indefinitely preventing the methodology and commercialization from ever reaching public domain. Thus maintaining a monopoly on their own patented technology.

As a reminder, Insulin was sold to the public University of Toronto for a single dollar. And now people are dying for not being able to afford their quad-daily payments on Insulin at about $45 or more a vial.

But for whatever reason, people are able to (illegally) buy unregulated black market drugs like knock-off brand Insulin from outside the Patent jurisdiction to sustain their life. Unregulated and illegal drugs are what people are literally resorting to, because the price difference is either death or being a criminal with a chance of death. Often people tend to do what they have to or can in order to survive.

Another notable thing of interest,

Manufacturing companies like the automotive industry may buy patented technology that could innovate and revolutionize the current market structure, then file that technology in some locked vault never to see the light of day.

So innovative technology could never meet public commercial markets, meaning the average user nor their quality of life nor standard of living would be improved.

Why might they do this?

Because why fix a cash cow that isn’t broke? If Gas Guzzling Cars are the money making machine, why would they want to disrupt their own market and business by alleviating the need for either car or gas or any auxiliary equipment used to maintain cars.

You gotta remember, these companies are literally trying to sell you features you already have in your car like heated seats.

Yea, the people trying to profit from subscription based technology? Yea, the markets full of them.

Trade Secrets

The other work around to Patents are having Trade Secrets, essentially a secret that isn’t public.

Afforded no patent protection, and if someone is able, they’ll probably reverse engineer your shit.

The Money

It takes money to file a patent

It takes money to maintain a patent

It takes money to file suits against or for a patent

It takes money to pay for a defense against someone else filing suit against your patent

It takes money simply dealing with Patents.

And all patent laws vary depending on Nation and jurisdiction.

For very big and high ticket patents, you might want a team of Senior lawyers on retainer, and hire some body guards. Typically, it may suit your interests to offload such ‘maintenance fees’ by selling the rights of the patent to some big Corpo or leasing or licensing it. Typically if you’re dealing with a big corpo, they want all the rights.

If you don’t want the headache, they’ll just buy the rights off of you, or something unfavorable may or maynot happen. Who knows.

So as it stands,

Patents are a good idea fairy that strive to drive privatization and afford some protections to those that can maintain their hold on said protections, and only for the jurisdictions that the patent laws apply (to include trade regulations with allied mercantile nations where foreign patent laws are honored)

As if the Patent Laws were designed with the purpose of unfettered innovations, they’ve instead become rules of the game for how innovation is to be done.

Patents take time to file, typically inhibit public commercialization if it’s ground breaking or disruptable technology, and can be held on in perpetuity or memoryholed due to propaganda machines and advertising campaigns.

What, it’s not like the government scrubs their websites or something. Now why would they do that?

In Closing,

You could own patents on reusable software or technology and license them out to companies to get pennies per use or transaction, that’s how some really rich people maintain a steady stream of wealth.

Or your patent might be for some sort of Transcendental Human Exalting Technology and is shoved away in the filing process or bought out by a Corpo and stored in an abyssian vault where the only light it might see is either the terms expiring, the collapse of the nation, or the nearest Super Nova, hopefully from our own sun.

Eh, that’s just how things are. Can it be improved? Maybe. I’m not here to offer improvements, just critiquing the current shit show state of affairs until the next shit show airs.

Am I right about all of the above? Probably not, I also don’t trust my sources. -My Sources.

*Not Valid Financial, Legal, Life, or Any Advice