Legal question about new harmonica ideas. Spreading freely vs patent?
Posted: Sat Aug 03, 2019 11:26 am
This is motivated by the discussion by dodtsair.
I don't see myself building a full harmonica like the one we discuss anytime soon, and it doesn't sound like dodtsair is either. I would hope that it could become commercially available, but there are some legal questions to consider.
I would gladly let someone who actually builds this use any ideas I've contributed with, possibly while stating my name somewhere and selling me some instruments at discount. What I'm afraid of though is that all the ideas are too much out in the open now to allow for a patent by anyone, and without a patent the idea might not be as attracting for commercial actors.
So: are we lessening our chances to see an instrument like this in production by talking about it?
I have thought about this problem for other ideas before. For a person who doesn't build harmonicas for a living, what is a wise course of action when one makes an original discovery or invention? What is a good level of secrecy?
The matter is complicated by the fact that we don't know at this stage the full potential of the idea; it's no where near ready for a patent application. I don't want to overly inflate the importance of the idea but at some stage in its development it might turn out to be useful, at which point this becomes an issue. Also, cooperation is often helpful. I wouldn't had started tinkering without the post from dodtsair, and he/she (?) perhaps wouldn't had made the further findings that I did. Ideas grow better in an open environment! A closed world is less productive and more boring.
Some comment from @Brendan or anyone else who's actually in the business would be great, but of course anyone's input is very welcome!
Don't be afraid to say so if you think my worrying is silly, I'm well aware it might be
I don't see myself building a full harmonica like the one we discuss anytime soon, and it doesn't sound like dodtsair is either. I would hope that it could become commercially available, but there are some legal questions to consider.
I would gladly let someone who actually builds this use any ideas I've contributed with, possibly while stating my name somewhere and selling me some instruments at discount. What I'm afraid of though is that all the ideas are too much out in the open now to allow for a patent by anyone, and without a patent the idea might not be as attracting for commercial actors.
So: are we lessening our chances to see an instrument like this in production by talking about it?
I have thought about this problem for other ideas before. For a person who doesn't build harmonicas for a living, what is a wise course of action when one makes an original discovery or invention? What is a good level of secrecy?
The matter is complicated by the fact that we don't know at this stage the full potential of the idea; it's no where near ready for a patent application. I don't want to overly inflate the importance of the idea but at some stage in its development it might turn out to be useful, at which point this becomes an issue. Also, cooperation is often helpful. I wouldn't had started tinkering without the post from dodtsair, and he/she (?) perhaps wouldn't had made the further findings that I did. Ideas grow better in an open environment! A closed world is less productive and more boring.
Some comment from @Brendan or anyone else who's actually in the business would be great, but of course anyone's input is very welcome!
Don't be afraid to say so if you think my worrying is silly, I'm well aware it might be