The Best Defense is a Good Offense

One of the last sources of information you run to when you are trying to design something new is the patent literature. Instead, innovators go to the scientific literature of the public domain and collaborative commons. As Linux developers know well, some of the most promising technologies have enormous churn in open source communities, as well as the patent system.

The rising number of patents [1] is concerning because it could actively slow creativity in the collaborative commons. Although the problems with software patents and trolls are well known [2], the academic literature is overflowing with examples of how patents retard technological progress in all manner of disciplines (e.g., nanotechnology [3], drugs [4], everything but drugs [5], and everything [6]).

Consider, for example, 3D printing with the RepRap (self-replicating rapid prototyper 3D printer) community [7] butting heads with the proprietary Goliaths like 3D Systems and Stratasys. Three-dimensional printing is potentially a massively disruptive technology set to unshackle innovation while slashing consumer prices by enabling distributed manufacturing in the home [8]. It is beginning to touch everyone as it is being used in a growing number of fields, including manufacturing, biomedical, design, energy, defense, and transportation industries. Already more than a third [9] of engineering jobs may require applicants to be familiar with 3D printing, so you can expect it to play a large and positive role in your life going forward – that is, if the patent trolls are kept at bay.

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