Buen artículo de Stephan Kinsella en el Mises Blog a favor de una reforma de la ley de patentes que permita la invención independiente de diseños y procesos que ya están patentados: Common Misconceptions about Plagiarism and Patents: A Call for an Independent Inventor Defense.
En la actualidad el sistema de patentes americano (presupongo que el europeo funciona de la misma manera) no criminaliza únicamente la copia, sino también la invención de la misma idea pero de forma independiente, sin conocimiento de la idea patentada, o incluso la invención independiente previa a la patente de un tercero. Esta restricción es aún más difícil de justificar desde un punto de vista ético que la prohibición de la copia (pues nadie se "aprovecha" de la creatividad ajena) y, como explica Kinsella, tiene ingentes costes, ya que muchos diseños y procesos patentados son de hecho concebidos de forma independiente por otras empresas que luego no pueden hacer un uso libre de ellos.
I've been practicing patent law since 1993. I have lost count of the number of times I've been called upon by a client to analyze a patent that has come to the client's attention, that concerns it. What typically happens is this. Company A is producing or developing a product. They hear a rumour from a customer "Hey, I think that Company B has a patent on something similar to this." Or, they get a letter from Company B saying, "Hi, we attach a copy of our latest patent for your interest! If you want to discuss licensing, give us a call! <smiley face! we're all friends! it's all good! Don't file a declaratory judgment action against us, please! We wouldn't want to give you cause to sue us first, robbing us of the chance to choose the venue! <double-smiley-face> Love, Company B". So Company A calls me, says, "can you take a look at this patent? Are we in trouble? Are we infringing? Is the patent valid? If so, can we change our design to get around it? We'll be happy to pay your $30k fee for an analysis and opinion." Such a productive use of precious capital!
Now, what I want to emphasize here is that: in all the umpteen times I've done this over the last 15 or so years, I have never, ever, even once, seen a case where the client's engineers copied the patented invention. In every case that I can recall, the company designed its product on its own--using available technology, to meet the market demands--and then only later were made aware of some patent buried among millions in the bowels of the patent office. Then they panic, worrying that they might be shut down by an injunction by a competitor, or sued into the ground (for examples see my Radical Patent Reform Is Not on the Way).
No doubt in some cases there is copying. An entrepreneur espies a popular product, and makes a similar one; lo and behold, it turns out there were some patents, and so he is sued. Still unjust--what is wrong with emulation, competition, and learning?!--but still, sure, in some cases, there is copying. But there can be no doubt that millions and millions of dollars are lost on attorneys' fees alone, not to mention the cost of changing designs to avoid infringement, or foregoing development in a field crowded with patents or rife with uncertainty, in cases where the victim was not copying or even learning anything from the company that just happens to hold a red-ribbon adorned manilla certificate issued by a technocratic bureaucracy of the criminal central state. Add an independent inventor defense, and a lot of the work done by lawyers like me would dry up--meaning a more efficient economy, lower priced goods, more competition and innovation, more innovative freedom, more breathing room.
