Hacker News Reader

Comment by firesteelrain | Hacker News Reader

I don’t think it’s completely fine to steal others technologies and products no. There are ways to be competitive and in an ethical manner

View on HN

The idea that ideas can be stolen and that doing so is wrong is fairly new and somewhat "unnatural". So the ethics of "stealing ideas" are not entirely well-defined. I think the only thing that almost everyone agrees on is that the person who had an idea first (or at least popularized it) should get recognition for it.

Huh? Patent systems go back hundreds of years! Yes nobody owns the idea of the lathe. We need to get past that. But for centuries, societies have recognized that someone who spends time and money developing a particular invention or manufacturing process can have legit rights to it

Its more: "Do as we say, not as we do". Lots of traditional techniques were appropriated and patented by the West and your nation deliberately ignored patents during its industrialization phase. But when the East that threw off the shackles of colonialism does so, oh my god, it is theft.

"Steal to get ahead, but suppress others who steal after you are ahead"

Ok that’s pretty creative to say “America did it 200 years ago” into a permanent license to copy and steal. Hell of a standard

US removed the choke of colonialism 250 years ago and ignored patents freely until well into the 20th century. And even today, a foreign patent isn't automatically enforceable in America.

India had to fight extremely hard in USPTO to stop Indian turmeric from being patented. Perhaps you folks should go into Chinese offices and fight for years to be equitable.

This isn’t the gotcha you think it is. They do.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com