Posted by Mikko (193.234.247.51) on May 02, 2002 at 12:41:29:
In Reply to: Re: true posted by diarm (194.125.205.81) on May 02, 2002 at 11:15:59:
: Yeah, and before they learned how to write good tunes, they covered obscure eurometal songs live: the audience often assumed they were the band's own composition so they generated a huge buzz as killer songwriters. Personally, I think the writing on Kill 'em all is their worst.
--I've never really understood why Metallica got so big, considering that there has been so much better bands around.
I don't know much patent laws, but I do know that at least in the past they have been country specific, right? So did those Swiss and Dutch companies patent their unique innovations (remember that you need to come up with something like that to apply for a patent) in other countries or not?
Also, in my understanding patents aren't all that important unless your innovation is something really radically new or the competition in your field is so tough that you need all advantage you can get.
Finally, the point of applying for a patent isn't that you can keep your innovation to yourself -- why would you? It costs a lot of money to develop something and you'd probably want to sell it. Having the protection by a patent means someone can't just copy what you've done and start manufacturing it.