How does a patent translate to money for the inventor, and how is it normally enforced? Let’s say that you invent the McCormick Reaper. Ok, so you get the basic design down. What happens when someone makes an iterative improvement? What then? Do you simply get a cut of every copy of the mechanised reaper bought and sold that is your version?
Do patents apply only for commercial usage?
In: Technology
You’re in elementary school. You have a talk about keeping the parks and environment clean from waste. You raise an offer to open a cookie stand in the park and put an empty open trash bin next to you, and give a free cookie to anyone who puts their waste in it to reward them for keeping the park clean. The problem is that you don’t have the resources and the necessary cooking knowledge for opening a cookie stand, but luckily for you one of your classmates does, and they volunteer to open it.
At year’s end, the principal decides to give your classmate a medal for operating the stand. You’re glad it worked, but you’re a bit disappointed for not receiving a medal as well or at least any form of material reward. You wish – “if only I had a way to guarantee that if someone puts my idea to action I would at least get some reward for coming up with it…”
That thing, is a patent 🙂
(Well, literally)
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