Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

B) Remove all intellectual property laws period. Not just patents for software, but all patents, and copyrights, and trademarks.

You might think at first this would lead to chaos. I don't think it would. I think it would make the world radically better. I can show this would work if you're curious.



I think a lot of trademark law could just as well be replaced with existing law against fraud and defamation. The fake Apple stores in China which sell inferior knock-offs are defrauding their customers who bought thinking they were buying a quality Apple product but instead ended up with a product merely masquerading as an Apple product. So the customers would have a fraud action against the fake Apple stores. Also, by selling inferior "Apple" products, the fake stores are harming Apple's reputation. This would give Apple a defamation case against the stores.

Such a scheme would have the added benefit of encouraging quality products to the point that companies producing poor-quality goods could lose their trademarks to quality companies. So if Dell began producing their own line of "Apple" branded computers, Apple could only sue Dell if the Dell "Apple" computers were causing harm to Apple's reputation. If Dell's computers were actually better that Apple's computers, Apple would have no cause of action. In time, if Dell could show that Apple's computers were actually causing harm to Dell's reputation, Dell could force Apple to pay damages for using the Apple mark.


I could never find Coca-cola again.


A lot of people wouldn't like Coca-cola scammers. They'd want the real Coca-cola. And these people would be willing to pay a small premium for it. So stores would have an incentive to sell the real thing. A lot of stores would probably refuse the sell the scam Coca-cola.

But a lot of other people wouldn't care, and they'd happily drink the scam Coca-cola which tastes just like the real thing, but is made by somebody else, and is cheaper.


I think coca-cola is a trade secret, not a patent


I was talking about the trademark, not the syrup.




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: