Re: What sensible patent regimes?
The "limited life" is 20 years. Imagine bringing a new product to market while being limited to 20 year old technology. (The car industry does exactly that with patents they do not own or cross-license. I am not sure how this rewards inventors or increases the rate of technical progress)
There is no expectation, requirement, preference or hint that development is the next step after (or before) getting a patent - much less manufacturing or bringing to market. There is no requirement that the patented invention even works. There was supposed to be some concept that a person skilled in the art could read a patent and then create the invention. That has not been reality for a long time. (There was supposed to be some lip-service to the idea that someone skilled in the art could not promptly re-create your invention without reading the patent but getting a patent invalidated for being obvious is impractical.) You can patent 'the idea' without going into detail about how such an invention could be made. Vagueness is in fact a bonus because it makes it difficult to prove someone else's product does not infringe.
Selling the idea only works if you have money. Lots of money. If you actually have a brilliant idea and it is still brilliant years later when you have your patent try showing it to a manufacturer. They will show you the door. Next year you will see your invention on sale. Sue for patent infringement. Sell you house to cover the initial legal fees. Live in a cardboard box for months of delays. Find you do not have the money to continue. Sell the lawsuit for a percentage of the payout. The buyer then does a cross-licensing deal so no money changes hands and you get nothing.
The effective way to earn money from patents if to patent gibberish. The patent will be rejected so you modify the gibberish a little and re-submit it to avoid the fee for filing a new patent. This method takes about as long as patenting a good idea but you do not need to bother with all that expensive time consuming R&D. Next threaten to sue world+dog. Do not for any reason actually initiate court proceedings. At first offer cheap settlements. You will get some. Use the funds for more threats. Keep the business growing until you are a multimillionaire then you can actually sue someone with money. Pick the right victim and they will settle for a large lump of cash on the condition that you sue their competitor.
The good news for this business model is that it is like Mickey Mouse copyrights. Every five years you update your patents so they are good for another 20 years.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
