Re: poly: Idea Futures, some questions

Nick B. writes:
>If, on the other hand, many people are involved in developing the
>idea and the application, then there will presumably be datable
>records. If somebody (perhaps a friend of a person involved in the
>project) went ahead and applied for the patent for his own benefit,
>the lab could prove that he had stolen their ideas by pointing to
>their preexisting documents. So in this case there is a good chance
>that the thief can be caught.

In most of the world all that matters is who files first, not who
invented first. I think the U.S. is moving to this standard as well.

>Contract this with the idea futures situation. Suppose a research
>project requires the collaboration of many people. Each of these
>persons (and possibly many others too) could steal the gist
>of the research findings and buy idea futures. If their personal
>transactions are monitored, they could tip their friends.

With patents, they could similarly tell their friends about the patent
idea, and their friends could then file for the patent.

Robin Hanson
hanson@econ.berkeley.edu http://hanson.berkeley.edu/
RWJF Health Policy Scholar, Sch. of Public Health 510-643-1884
140 Warren Hall, UC Berkeley, CA 94720-7360 FAX: 510-643-2627
Received on Fri Jun 5 20:50:11 1998