this post was submitted on 13 Apr 2025
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Jack Dorsey, co-founder of Twitter (now X) and Square (now Block), sparked a weekend’s worth of debate around intellectual property, patents, and copyright, with a characteristically terse post declaring, “delete all IP law.”

X’s current owner Elon Musk quickly replied, “I agree.”

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[–] sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 17 points 1 week ago (14 children)

That's probably better than what we have now, but still very short of ideal. Here's my proposition:

  • keep trademark law as-is
  • cut patents to 5-7 years, with a one-time extension if the holder can demonstrate need
  • cut copyright to 14 years (original 1790 Copyright Act duration), with a one-time explicit extension, approved based on need
  • have existing patents and copyright expire at their original term, the above (for works patented/copyrighted within the term), or half the above (for works copyrighted outside the term), whichever is shorter

That would solve most of the problems while keeping the vast majority of the benefits.

[–] 4am@lemm.ee 11 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Also, patents shouldn’t be filable once prior art exists.

Aka Nintendo patenting game mechanics 30 years after the fact to try and sue Palworld.

Also game mechanics and UI features being tied to existing functionality (Amazon’s “one click”, Apple’s “swipe to unlock”) should not be considered novel.

[–] sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 6 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

Also, patents shouldn’t be filable once prior art exists.

That's the case today, it's just that the patent office accepts far more patents than it should. Those patents absolutely don't hold up in court, but it really shouldn't get to that point either.

The problem here is enforcement, not law.

[–] 4am@lemm.ee 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

On March 16th, 2013, America passed the American Inventors Act, which transitioned the United States to a First-to-File system.

American Inventors Act

Ugh, gross. It did expand the definition of prior art though, but I think it's worse on net.

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