46 replies to this topic

[klawfran3]

To have a diet that fits all ants is quite impossible since they are so diverse.

Might a sollution be to introduce different kinds of Formula Blue, more specific towards different sp.?

Actually that sounds like a good idea but I'm not sure how it would be executed though.

[Mannomorth]

I don't get it. You spend tons of time designing a product, give away the plans for free, don't bother to copyright or patent it, and then whinge when others commercialize it.

 

Its the companies that patent other peoples works that are wrong. To keep the hobby and community open is not impossible but when some vendors decide to patent/copyright "their" work it hurts everyone. But since some vendor does I have to say that it may force the rest to follow. So I would suggest to actually patent/copyright the work, now I don't know how much it costs in the US, but it is quite expensive in Sweden so I don't know if this is even a realistic thought.

 

Perhaps several hobbyists and small size vendors can go together and use each other copyrights and prevent any other vendors from stealing designs.

 

I'm opposed all kinds of patent and copyright as I find that it prohibits smaller companies to grow, but you can't sadly only live on pricipal.

[Vendayn]

 

I don't get it. You spend tons of time designing a product, give away the plans for free, don't bother to copyright or patent it, and then whinge when others commercialize it.

 

Its the companies that patent other peoples works that are wrong. To keep the hobby and community open is not impossible but when some vendors decide to patent/copyright "their" work it hurts everyone. But since some vendor does I have to say that it may force the rest to follow. So I would suggest to actually patent/copyright the work, now I don't know how much it costs in the US, but it is quite expensive in Sweden so I don't know if this is even a realistic thought.

 

Perhaps several hobbyists and small size vendors can go together and use each other copyrights and prevent any other vendors from stealing designs.

 

I'm opposed all kinds of patent and copyright as I find that it prohibits smaller companies to grow, but you can't sadly only live on pricipal.

 

the copyright law in US is VERY easy to take advantage of and misuse. People even successfully trade mark common words (though mostly they get denied, but they do slip through), which is crazy in itself...EA (electronic arts) is currently trying to copyright the word "Ghosts", its stupid. Probably get denied, but they are a huge gaming company so who knows lol.

 

But its sad that people just steal designs and copyright them, even if they didn't actually come up with it. It doesn't help the ant hobby at all, which is still small compared to other hobbies. But, stealing things is the way of the present times and copyrighting stupid stuff that shouldn't be copyrighted at all, or even be attempted to try to copyright.

[Roachant]

Mannomorph may have touched on something. If several of us get together maybe we all can help out and get DrTMillers designs patented.

[dspdrew]

How much money do you have?

[john.harrold]

Mannomorph may have touched on something. If several of us get together maybe we all can help out and get DrTMillers designs patented.

 

While your intent is nice there are some important obstacles to what you're proposing.

 

First I don't believe you'll be able to patent anything that Terry has already made available. The other aspect is that simply patenting something isn't terribly useful. It's necessary to enforce those patents to have the desired outcome. That means that Terry would have to hire lawyers. Lawyers are expensive, and while it's possible to get their fees incorporated into judgements, it would still be necessary to pay the lawyers until the completion of a given case. These things work out for larger companies because they have legal departments dedicated to this kind of thing. For an individual running a business this path of patenting designs and defending those patents would quickly draw Terrys time away from the work he seems to enjoy and into legal work that isn't much fun for him. 

Edited by john.harrold, February 21 2016 - 2:35 PM.

[Mannomorth]

 

Mannomorph may have touched on something. If several of us get together maybe we all can help out and get DrTMillers designs patented.

 

While your intent is nice there are some important obstacles to what you're proposing.

 

First I don't believe you'll be able to patent anything that Terry has already made available. The other aspect is that simply patenting something isn't terribly useful. It's necessary to enforce those patents to have the desired outcome. That means that Terry would have to hire lawyers. Lawyers are expensive, and while it's possible to get their fees incorporated into judgements, it would still be necessary to pay the lawyers until the completion of a given case. These things work out for larger companies because they have legal departments dedicated to this kind of thing. For an individual running a business this path of patenting designs and defending those patents would quickly draw Terrys time away from the work he seems to enjoy and into legal work that isn't much fun for him. 

 

Yes this is correct, that's why my idea was that several small vendors stick together such as THA and ByFormica and would therefore share the burden, I don't see any other way to keep the innovators in business.