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Comment by amarkov | Hacker News Reader

Copyright can't protect ideas, only specific expressions of them. If my code contains a brilliant and truly novel idea for efficient data storage, you're free to write your own code implementing that idea without violating my coyright.

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Yes, and that's kind of the whole point - the world is better off if everyone is able to write their own code implementing better, more efficient data storage without worrying if someone else might have done that before them. It's important to note that patent laws are created not for the benefit of creators but for the benefit of the general public - the public gives creators "temporary monopolies" only because and only to the extent that these protections are expected to provide appropriate incentives to the creators that benefit everyone else in the long run. The question is about which particular cases warrant the state to enforce an artificial monopoly, a restriction on what technology others (including other creators) are able to use in their business. If a particular protection gives no benefit to the wider community, that protection shouldn't exist.

Patents solve a problem where inventors might reasonably choose not to distribute improved products widely because they're unable to ship them without revealing how they work. We want them to sell these inventions to wide markets without delay, so issuing time-restricted patents is useful to achieve that goal. As other posters stated, shrinkwrap software has the same issue (so patents might be useful for this scenario) but SAAS does not; you're going to use the brilliant and truly novel idea for efficient data storage anyway, and if other people would be restricted from doing so then that makes the society to use inferior technology with no good reason.

However, there is no incentive for entrepreneurs to take risks in your world. The existing patent system, as set forth in the Constitution, Article 1, Section 8, provides that incentive.

The world of reality?

Conversely, if I write some bubble sort+ code at work I can’t make use of it at home and have to rewrite it from scratch because employers own all the code we write, even when it’s not even remotely in the scope of the business and is just groundwork bordering on boilerplate.

+ hopelessly contrived just to make a point.

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