TMR Podcast Ep. 2: The Patent System
Show outline below, references to be added soon
Show outline:
1. The philosophical case against Intellectual Property
a. Property is defined by scarcity, abundant things have no need to be owned
b. Patents infringe on your freedom to do as you with with your tangible
i. If you got a sheet of metal and you are not allowed to make a screw driver if someone has a patent for such a device. EVEN IF IT IS DEMONSTRABLY YOUR IDEA
2. Copyright
a. Everything you say on record is copyrighted, you have no choice in the matter
b. Everyone breaks 10 copyright laws a day, which leaves scope for selective enforcement, so if the government or some rich corporation doesn't like you, you can be sued to the gutter for copyright infringements
3. Patents
a. What is a patent: a temporary monopoly granted by the government for the stated purpose of rewarding you for your invention
b. Level of the patent / review / testing
Peer review of engineers and scientists and engineers
c. How much does it cost
The most simple / no moving parts monolithic material 30k in USA only
More complicated one or two moving parts 50k in USA only
HOWEVER a complex machine requires different patents
4. Effects of the patent system
a. Small inventors are marginalised
b. Technology that threatens establish businesses can be suppressed
c. Lawyers siphon off the lions share of the innovation investment
1. EV1: General motors developed a car that was efficient, exceedingly popular and they successfully leased out all the cars that they had made. The range was only 110 Km but that is sufficient
2. In 1977 Shell Oil Company published a book titled: Fuel Economy of the Gasoline Engine, documents that Shell scientists were able to achieve 149.95 miles per gallon (50ks per litre) on a 1947 Studebaker. One of the authors of that book David Blackmore, stated that several years after the publication of the book 1000 miles per gallon barrier was broken in a specialised highly engineered car.
Why? What are the incentives of an oil company???
3. Tom Ogle:
This guy invented a car that could do 200 miles to the gallon following the simple principle of vaporizing a much higher percentage of the fuel prior to injection. He got it patented US Patent # 4,177,779 and he had a number of partners. However his partners struggled to sell this invention because it wasn't really new. It was very similar to a 1972 (5 years earlier) held by General Motors.
Earnie Pearce
In 1977, a former mechanical supervisor for continental airlines copied the engine, with only a marginal improvement. He got followed and surveyed and threatened until he gave up building this engine.
Then there is a story of an unnamed person in 1969 who showed up to a racing carnival with a 1966 Buick roadmaster outfitted with a carburetor that was water injected and could do a 100 miles per gallon. This is 35k per liter for a really heavy car (just over two tonnes close to the weight of a hummer) this means that a 1 tonne car like a Mitsubishi lancer would go at least 2500 kilometers on a tank. He was millionaire who had sold his invention to Shell.
4. Lonnie Johnson, the inventor of the super soaker. Holder of some 70+ patents has two inventions that can revolutionise the energy landscape. Firstly he invented a lithium air battery which costs 4 times less than lithium ion batteries used in today's hybrid cars and it also weighs 4 times less.
His second invention is the Johnson Thermoelectric Energy Conversion System, or JTEC that can achieve solar energy conversion rate of 60%