[Stoves] Patent Protection or the Lack of It

Mon Jun 26 02:45:28 CDT 2006

Harry, AD et al.,
There is another recourse to the patent game....Where the usurper 
cannot see the need t o share, then you can use them to create the 
market for what you made in the first place. You know best how the 
design can be altered-- "tweaked " ---as it were, then you do so and go 
for it. A kinder version of this is to introduce something new but 
related using the theif's marketing efforts to make the concept 
popular. I don't make a practice of this but all too many are not nice.
Richard

What goes round comes around...
Richard Stanley
On Jun 25, 2006, at 6:06 PM, Harry Stokes wrote:

> Dear Dr. Karve,
>
> Your words are very wise.  When others take credit for your ideas, you 
> know
> that you have won the argument.  This is an old saying among 
> politicians.
>
> For the thoughtful person, finding the answer and successfully 
> conveying it
> is worth more than a fortune!
>
> Best wishes,
>
> Harry
>
> P.S. Congratulations on the recent Ashden Award
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: stoves-bounces at listserv.repp.org
> [mailto:stoves-bounces at listserv.repp.org] On Behalf Of adkarve
> Sent: Sunday, June 25, 2006 6:46 AM
> To: stoves at listserv.repp.org
> Subject: Re: [Stoves] Central channel combustion stoves.
> WasRE:HensonCenterFiure Burner System
>
> I agree with Richard that it takes a lot of money to defend one's 
> patent and
> that the true winners are lawyers on both the sides. We have for 
> instance
> registered the design of our Sarai cooker. But a multimillionnare 
> capitalist
> has blatantly copied it and is selling it. We are just too small and 
> too
> poor to sue him. All we can do is to congratulate him for having 
> decided to
> do what we wanted to do,  namely to disseminate our technology!
> I consulted an industrialist friend of mine about this. He told me 
> that the
> life of a patent is about 17 years. Any clever lawyer can keep the case
> before the court of law undecided and pending for that period, and 
> after the
> 17 years are over, the case is thrown out, because the cause for 
> litigation
> does not exist any longer.
> Yours
> A.D.Karve
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Richard Stanley <rstanley at legacyfound.org>
> To: Stoves List <stoves at listserv.repp.org>
> Sent: Thursday, June 08, 2006 5:38 AM
> Subject: Re: [Stoves] Central channel combustion stoves. Was
> RE:HensonCenterFiure Burner System
>
>
>> Dear stovers,
>> The following  two  cents, on innovation and control and recognition
>> stems from Paul's good insights this morning...
>>
>>   As Einstein put it (and probably several others before him) you 
>> cannot
>> solve tomorrow's  problems with todays thinking (--or something to 
>> that
>> effect) . This whole notion of ownership and intellectual property
>> rights is fast becoming outmoded in light of the very internet
>> mechanism we are now using to communicate. It is very likely that some
>> cave (or cavish) person invented the wheel and that another discovered
>> infrared reflectance, stack effect and pot scrubbing distances etc., 
>> in
>> observing/ grunting/ burning himself/ herself around a simple wood
>> fire.
>>
>> That they did not patent it, much less  articulate it in print, should
>> not have ever been a license for us to ignore the strength of their
>> experience and the lore which they directly or indirectly passed on to
>> us.
>>
>> Instead we have now inherited this notion of protecting an idea as 
>> your
>> own, defending it in our courts, making sure that if you can just 
>> tweak
>> your idea a bit you can screw the other guy before he does you...great
>> system for one culture working within itself, for a while anyway...
>>
>>   Nowhowever, comes the internet : All of the sudden we have to figure
>> out how to keep our turf intact, while it is being exposed to everyone
>> and their uncle globally --and we do not have Gates' money or 
>> influence
>> to protect our ideas...
>>
>> Now lest we fall into a "socialist mess" like all "them commies" 
>> did...
>> how does a good capitalist adapt to the emerging reality... How to
>> participate and get paid for it in an open source environment.
>>
>> Does the word "Co-vent" with mutually agreed remuneration apportioned
>> according to one's participation/ skills, make any sense? Does it make
>> more sense to pre-plan distribution of the idea and the roles and the
>> expectations up front, or do we continue to try to protect defend and
>> play a rear guard action with beloved patents in the global reality of
>> the internet.
>>
>> I can assure you that the silent masses of this planet will continue 
>> to
>> slip quite efficiently by the WTO in their own survival ethic of
>> adaptation and that the rest of us, the 20% odd, will never really be
>> able to squeeze them enough to force them to buy a finished product,
>> much less than an idea,  when it can be adapted locally. They rarely
>> have the cash to buy it, they are nearly invisible from an
>> administrative tracking standpoint  and they  are generally incredibly
>> resourceful adaptors...
>>
>>   So how does the well intended innovator  pro-actively adapt to this
>> reality:  Share out your idea and get screwed or pay it to a lawyer to
>> protect it in which case the lawyer wins.
>>
>> Our own experience has led us to a notion of "conditional sharing"
>> with the three caveats that they must 1) refer back to us and the
>> others  we are working with and from whom we got the idea,   2)
>> contribute their experience in adapting it and 3) kindly agree to
>> becoming a referral for others as a resource person (as a private
>> consultant or gratis: Its up to them). No legal force here just a push
>> pull opportunity for the recipient. It works quite well actually 
>> --with
>> individuals and small groups.
>>
>> So it goes. the 'conditional sharing' delivery system is far from
>> perfect but its a start in the new age of internet based development
>> assistance. Ideas on how to structure this--or not to structure 
>> it--are
>> most welcome... its just a work in progress....but one which affects 
>> us
>> all in the larger scheme of things.
>>
>>
>> R Stanley
>>
>>
>> a hollow core fire On Jun 7, 2006, at 8:13 AM, psanders at ilstu.edu 
>> wrote:
>>
>
>
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