I’ve just submitted my first “invention disclosure” at work. I’m rather ambivalent about the whole thing – on the one hand, I don’t like what patents have become, and on the other, I signed a contract, and the honorable thing to do is play by the rules I agreed to.
May 30, 2004
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Muli Ben-Yehuda's journal 
If there’s one thing you learn..
If there’s one thing you learn when you’re involved in a patent request from a company you work for is just how silly these things really are.
9 cases out of 10, what you submitted is “smart” but nothing as smart as a lot of things you use daily by other people and companies which aren’t patented, which makes you wonder about the validity of the whole proccess.
Having said that, patent themselves aren’t bad – what people/companies do with them may be. Or think of this this way – next time someone claims the Linux kernel violates a patent, it’s just might be your own patent in IBM’s war chest that enables IBM to sue back. Hope that will cheer you up 🙂
Gilad.
Comment by Anonymous — May 30, 2004 @ 12:49 AM |
Re: If there’s one thing you learn..
IBM has a pretty extensive scheme in place to prevent generating patents that aren’t worth it. Having said that, I see many patents around here that I completely fail to understand how anyone can consider anything *but* trivial.
FWIW, you are mentioned in my invention disclosure as someone I discussed it with 🙂
Comment by mulix — May 30, 2004 @ 1:09 AM |
You sign a contract and then abide by the contract, it is as simple as that. It teaches one to take his/her name to paper more carefully. Some of the Samurai, having drawn their sword, had to take life with it. Even if it meant their own. This encouraged care with one’s sword.
Comment by yrk — May 30, 2004 @ 4:41 AM |
I feel the same way. However, to take the analogy further, a samurai that felt that he had drawn his sword in error, had the possibility of turning it against himself – just like a person who signs a contract has the possibility of braking said contract, with the agreed upon consequences.
Comment by mulix — May 30, 2004 @ 4:57 AM |
hey, congrats on the milestone!
Comment by shunra — May 30, 2004 @ 12:09 PM |