Lamentable, no doubt, but the whole point of the patent system is
to encourage innovation. If someone's already done it then it's not very
innovative, is it? And if you invest significant amounts (where significant is
relative to the size of your company) into research without checking whether
someone else has already done that research before then I think your investors
will want to have a quiet word about "fiduciary duty".
You
sound like you've never really worked in industry.
If I work at (say) IBM and
I develop something innovative, it will not be published until the patent is
filed. In the meantime, HP may have had the same idea, and is using the same
strategy -- get it nailed down before making any public disclosure.
There may
even be two or more applications made for what seems like the same thing. But
they may not be granted in filing order, and they can change while being
prosecuted.
In other words, it's entirely possible that my really cool work
is eventually obliterated by a patent I couldn't see coming. So while I would
say it's not common, it's certainly not a strawman to consider the case where
somebody invests significant money in something only to lose the patent race. [ Reply to This | Parent | # ]
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