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Comment by swohns | Hacker News Reader

The US Patent System is the envy of the world!? I'd love to have more international opinions on this, but from my experience in Japan, France and England, no one envies our patent system, and most programmers simply ignore it even when working on products for the US market.

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I'm French, now living/workin in the US and I'm not too sure I agree with you. Did you know that even small businesses when they register at "Chambre du commerce" they usually protect their IP/Name through INPI. That's like the first thing they do even if it's a food truck. So for me IP protection is very present in our culture. Same for the companies I worked for we usually submit patent to USPTO before EPO.

Even though the USPTO is responsible for both patents and trademarks, there is a big difference between the two. A food truck protecting its name would be obtaining a trademark, not a patent.

Please do not confuse IP protection with the patent system. For example I love the copyright system while I hate the patent system. You don't copy code accidentally and to use your example - it's still relatively easy to research if names are already used and you don't have to do that often.

But you have a really hard time figuring out if you break some patents while developing software. Even lawyers and courts often have a hard time figuring out if something steps on a patent or not. As software developer where you develop new things every day you can basically only close your eyes and code on hoping you don't trigger too many patent mines. Patents belong as little in writing software as they belong in writing other things like books, articles or speeches.

I'm French too. You're talking trademark. It's OK to protect your name. Actually, patents themselves are OK in a lot of domains, when you are patenting a specific process, the concrete, multi-step application of an idea. The problem with software/business patents is that you're usually patenting an idea.

Take it another way. Write software in the US, and as soon as you're making money, you run the risk of being sued by a patent troll in Eastern Texas. Write software in France, you run no such risk (some would even maliciously say that you don't run the risk of making money).

Just goes to show how disconnected from reality our politicians really are. How come its always the least innovative people who try to protect innovation?

I'd like to have a credible source, or I'd be prone to believe he just made it up.

I don't know about "envy of the world" but until China started enforcing IP rights a little more strongly, US companies I worked with hated doing business with Chinese companies because they would just copy everything.

While all under the umbrella of "intellectual property," trademark, copyright, trade dress, and the various forms of patents all cover different things.

I think many people doing business in China are more concerned about trade dress (fooling people into thinking that their item is the "legitimate" thing).

Edit: rather than patents. I also think copyright and trademark are big concerns. I don't think patents are.

No, patents and copyrights and other things too. One major Chinese telecom company used to copy the equipment of one major US telecom company down to the English silk screening on the circuit boards. Who wants to do all the expensive design work for a Chinese company who is then just going to undercut you with lower prices through cheap labor?

OK, but you seem to be supporting my point...

The example you gave is copyright violation. My claim (poorly worded the first time) is that patents are not what most companies are worried about -- they're more concerned with copyright, trade dress, and trademark.

It depends on what the company makes. LVMH worries about its trade marks. Merck worries about its patents. And these aren't illegitimate worries. People feel ripped off when someone takes a drug they spent time and money developing and copies it. People feel ripped off when someone takes a brand they spent time and money building and copies it. Unfair competition is at the heart of all kinds of IP.

So true! I laughed out loud when I read this line.

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