[ExI] IP vs. a free society/was Re: medical marijuana

[Adrian Tymes]

--- On Tue, 7/20/10, Dan <dan_ust at yahoo.com> wrote:
> Finally, IP as it exists now, isn't just about someone
> copying what someone else 
> has done. It's also about preventing others from
> independently doing the same 
> things. For instance, you invent some new product and get
> it patented. Imagine 
> someone else, with no knowledge of your product, comes up
> with the same thing -- 
> "same" from the perspective of current law. While that
> person didn't copy your 
> work, she will most likely be prevented from selling that
> product.

There may be a silver lining to that.  If person B refuses
to do any research and independently recreates person A's
work...has person B added any value, when they could have
simply looked up the patent database and copied person A's
work?  Sure, there is an issue of doing this a year or two
after - but what about 20 or 30 years?  I've seen
independent reinventions of things that old, spending
months or years to do what could have been accomplished
with a simple patent search.  I would not be surprised if
the same problem existed when patents were invented.