My perception of the patents and innovation.
Patents are not a good way to count innovation/technology.
The rules are different in each country so you can not compare a German patent to an American patent.
In the US it is relatively easy and cheap to get a patent, but they are not very strong in court. You do not have to prove originality to get the patent. If someone then challenges the patent in court then the court will decide if the patent was valid/orginal in the first place. The American system makes it easy for large companies to apply for many patents that they do not deserve. They get a lot of money from people to licence the patent because a small guy will not take them to court.
In Germany (and most of Europe) you must prove that you idea is original first before they grant the patent.
So lets say I have a problem, and I come up with a clever solution. In Germany when you apply for the patent you must explain the problem that you were trying to solve. They give this problem to some experts in the same field with the same constraints as you. If there solution is even close to your solution then you don’t get the patent! in the US no checking beforehand… only in court!
In Europe you are not allowed to patent software… only physical things or processes. So there is lots of invention in Europe that is not counted in patents.
If you see something clever and think “hey that clever, it might help me in my problem”. Now your problem is totally separate and unrelated but what you saw gave you ‘creative spark’. In the US your idea can be patented in Europe no… because you ‘transferred’ from an existing idea.
So unless you know how difficult the system is you can not compare. I have no idea how strict the Chinese patent system is… but I know the European system is far stricter than American
The rules are different in each country so you can not compare a German patent to an American patent.
In the US it is relatively easy and cheap to get a patent, but they are not very strong in court. You do not have to prove originality to get the patent. If someone then challenges the patent in court then the court will decide if the patent was valid/orginal in the first place. The American system makes it easy for large companies to apply for many patents that they do not deserve. They get a lot of money from people to licence the patent because a small guy will not take them to court.
In Germany (and most of Europe) you must prove that you idea is original first before they grant the patent.
So lets say I have a problem, and I come up with a clever solution. In Germany when you apply for the patent you must explain the problem that you were trying to solve. They give this problem to some experts in the same field with the same constraints as you. If there solution is even close to your solution then you don’t get the patent! in the US no checking beforehand… only in court!
In Europe you are not allowed to patent software… only physical things or processes. So there is lots of invention in Europe that is not counted in patents.
If you see something clever and think “hey that clever, it might help me in my problem”. Now your problem is totally separate and unrelated but what you saw gave you ‘creative spark’. In the US your idea can be patented in Europe no… because you ‘transferred’ from an existing idea.
So unless you know how difficult the system is you can not compare. I have no idea how strict the Chinese patent system is… but I know the European system is far stricter than American
