[LINK] Is it unethical to infringe a patent?

[Richard Chirgwin]

Howard Lowndes wrote:
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> rchirgwin at ozemail.com.au wrote:
>> Brendan,
>>
>> Brendan Scott wrote:
>>
>>> Just an open question really.  Assuming that patents are a form  of 
>>> property:
>>>
>>> (a) would it be unethical to infringe a patent?  (eg: exercise a 
>>> patent without the permission of the patent holder)
>>>  
>>>
>> The answer is a simple "no", because the legal position (and an 
>> ethical position which flows from it) depends on the patent holder, 
>> not the infringer. If a patent holder chooses not to act upon 
>> infringement, there is no breach of the law.
>
> There is a problem from the holder viewpoint though; if they don't 
> aggressively defend their patents then they can run the risk of losing 
> them, just like trademarks.
Most certainly, Howard - but the problems facing patent holders don't 
directly affect the ethics of the person who is not a patent holder.

The patent system recognises that nobody can be expected to anticipate 
what patents they *may* infringe if they invent something. Merely 
inventing something does not infringe a patent, even if it were to 
nearly 100% replicate something already invented and patented.

Inventing (reinventing) something infringes a patent if I turn the 
invention into a product. You have to, as it were, "realise" the 
infringement for it to go from being theoretical to factual.

"You told me I was a warewolf before I ever changed."
"Not everybody can change. It's like being able to roll your tongue or 
wiggle your ears. You were a warewolf 'in posse'; now your one 'in esse'."
(Anthony Boucher, The Compleat Warewolf)

RC
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