ktmrfs wrote:
valhalla360 wrote:
If they could boost MPG by 25%, the auto companies would bid billions for the patent as they could dominate the trucking industry (and other heavy commercial engines) for decades until the patent ran out.
As mentioned, patents aren't secret. They are publicly available. How else would you know if someone already patented an idea? Plus, you can use patented ideas but simply have to pay for them. So if true, it would be worth a court case to open the design to public use.
The patent holder can choose to not license the patent to others.
Exactly. There are a FEW patents that were/are considered top secret by the US gov't and issued but not published. Several such classified patents were issued to Hedi Lamar the actress. Even after they were unclassified they were hard to find since they were issued under her real name, not stage name, made it harder to search by patent holders name.
Yes, top secret stuff is a special case but ICE engine efficiency isn't a likely target for that.
As I said, that big of an improvement would be worth the court case. So if they don't license it, you just build it anyway and let them sue you. The court will assign a value for the patent...you don't get to say something silly like $10mil per engine, it has to be justified by actual value. Very quickly it would be sorted out (they might set up a dummy company to do it, so it would limit risk).
Alternatively, some other country not subject to US patent law would simply start using it in the best interest of their country.
The patent system isn't designed to restrict the use of new technology, only to make sure those who develop it are fairly compensated.
