Patents have been around for a long time, longer than some people might think. For a long time they sufficed as proper protection for people's
property, ideas, etc. Recently though patents have come under fire as no longer being adequate protection for such things. This issue is, as of right now,
growing, but not yet truly in the public's eye. Nevertheless, the issue merrits discussion and demands more attention and serios inqury into the matter. Some
argue that patents have been and will be the answer to certain levels of protection; while others argue that patents are no longer effective with the developing
world. While possessing relevant valueable meaning in protection, patents, as a result of circumstance, are now no longer sufficent to serve as the controlling
matter in protection of individuals or groups ideas and inventions. This is not to say that patents need to be eliminated, but rather that patents need to be
updated; changed to better fit the developing world and the unique circumstances it now presents.
Patents have many valid points and use for protection; and as of right now, they serve as a necessary and essential part of American, and
worldwide life. If we were to remove patents today or even tomorrow the world would see a crisis. Patents protect many different valuable facets of life and
society at this point; essentiall, patents still have power, meaning. They do not have zero power, they are not irrelevent yet, patents have value still. Would it
be fair if someone put hours and hours of their life into an invention and then had that invention stolen or copied and sold at the original inventors expense? No,
imagine if someone like Steve Jobs had his idea stripped from him of the i-Phone. Patents are more than just lawful protection of an individuals or groups ideas
or inventions, they are more than that. Patents deal in moral matters as well, the right and wrong of an invention, an idea; there is a moral element.
Patents however, do have pitfalls, and an increasing number of them as well. While invention and innovation should be praized and held to the
highest standing, there is a limit, there is a right and wrong. Freedom is often raised as an issue of patents, some argue that patents suppress freedom, or at
the very least they allow for freedom to be suppressed. People or groups known as patent trolls are a often a real and growing issue with patents. A patent
troll is someone or some group that claims the right to a patent with the intent of ever capitalizing or using the patent. They just want to own the right to it that
way when an individual or group thinks of the idea that the patent troll has already claimed the patent for the new people or group cannot make this new idea
or invention a reality without the patent troll's consent. One can see the benifit of being a patent troll, and the patent office has taken measures against patent
trolls, such as limiting the time an individual can hold a particular patent without having to renew it and measures of lthe like. Unfortunalty, there is nothing that
can be done that would effectivly limit what patent troll's do.
Where the effects of these loopholes is possibly felt greatest is the technology industry, perhaps most in the software field; technology requires
innovation daily, literally. With patent trolls claiming all the patents the mind can think of this innovation can come panifully slow. Worse yet, patent trolls are
so relentless that most people just give up before incurring too much in the way of legal costs or their own personal time. More issues with patents are that they
are only enforced in the country that grants them. This creates issues with many companies, forcing various companies to apply for patents in any multitude of
countries; and where the issue really resides is where a group or individual in another country already has the patent a certain company or individual wants or
has been granted in a secondary country. Patents are time consuming endavors, taking some time to process and authenticate, checking if there is an existing
patent, and doing so over an entire country. Frankly, patnets might have worked in the past, and may still be serviceable today, but patents are going to reqiure
a great deal of updating in the future.
Piracy is at an all time high these days, and in countries with intricate technology industries. This trend is concerning and is only growing in its level of
severity. With the world as a whole getting smarter, bigger, better, and all arround more sophisticated with technology, patents lose their power. As individual
countries grow and learn about the emerging technologies that fill our world today patents struggle to maintain their effectivness over not just the countries they
wereissued in, but all around the globe. Suggestions have been made as how to fix or update patents, but none seem to be effective as of yet. Any attempt thus far
tocreate a worldwide patnet regulation has failed, and probably rightfuly so. In a perfect world a global standard could work and possibly work well as an effective
way to filter or regulate patents, but it would be a fools errand to think that could happen in today's world. There is far too much piracy and inablility to police the
issue; we have to realize that patents are a dying regiment of the past.
One does not have to be a genius, or even that up to date with the technology industry to realize that patents have a serious and growing issue. The
solution to the problme is not yet clear and may not be for some time. Perhaps a more willing and cooperative world and its governments in terms of limiting
useless or unrealsitc patents would ease the effect felt by the issue; but that only truly deals with half of the problem. The fact is that patents are now no longer the
answer, there are too many loopholes and irregularities with them. We need to improve and update, and I choose the word update in an exacting manor. What I
mean to imply is that the term update means to fix an existing piece of technology, at least as we use the term today. I intend to say that we should fix patents, not
do away with them and start fom scratch. Until a better and more effective form of policing intellictual property and things like software arise, patents will have to
suffice, but they will only endure with an update.