Robin Hanson writes:
> 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.
The ownership of the patent might depend only on that. But companies
and labs often require their employees to sign a contract that
prevent them from leaking the company's information. These contracts
are often enforceable today, but might not be so with idea futures.
_____________________________________________________
Nicholas Bostrom
Department of Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method
London School of Economics
n.bostrom@lse.ac.uk
http://www.hedweb.com/nickb
Received on Mon Jun 8 21:25:18 1998
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