Interesting to think what changed in that time period. Ideas prior to 1900 or so would have been primarily mechanical, and the patent system was designed for this. Even though all patents represent ideas, ideas prior to the electrical age were about mechanical objects that could, perhaps, be instantiated in one best way. Ideas in the electrical age could probably be instantiated in many ways, making patents harder to enforce. And now, in the information age, the idea itself can be articulated in many ways, making patents somewhat useless for information-based products except as post-hoc bludgeons.
I don’t think ideas in the information age are any harder to articulate. I do think that it’s harder to identify patent theft, though. You don’t get to read the source code of a tech company, but if you buy a mechanical product, you can just open it up to see if they’re using your patent.
Interesting to think what changed in that time period. Ideas prior to 1900 or so would have been primarily mechanical, and the patent system was designed for this. Even though all patents represent ideas, ideas prior to the electrical age were about mechanical objects that could, perhaps, be instantiated in one best way. Ideas in the electrical age could probably be instantiated in many ways, making patents harder to enforce. And now, in the information age, the idea itself can be articulated in many ways, making patents somewhat useless for information-based products except as post-hoc bludgeons.
I don’t think ideas in the information age are any harder to articulate. I do think that it’s harder to identify patent theft, though. You don’t get to read the source code of a tech company, but if you buy a mechanical product, you can just open it up to see if they’re using your patent.