When I was learning engineering, patents were a given. You’d work on a new product, innovate along the way, and then meet with a patent attorney to file for US and overseas patents. I have two patents myself. But now I’m asking: Are patents still useful to society? I have my doubts.
Have patents run their course?
I published an opinion piece in EE Times with this title. Would we be better off if we got rid of patents, while keeping IP protections through trade secrets, trademarks, and copyrights?
You can read the whole thing, including reader comments, here:
http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1319315