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Open vs. Patents Intro

Curiosity > Journey

I posted a basic thought on LinkedIn about this topic a few weeks ago given I find the dichotomy of open source vs. patents as it relates to economic and human development interesting.

Intellectual property is a part of the US Constitution (Article 1, Section 8, Clause).

That provision has enabled progress and provided those who made their inventions successful rather wealthy (and some so much their wealth has been passed down for generations).

However, Open Source software development has played a very significant part in human and economic development (you can thank Open Source developments like Unix/Linux, and WordPress for powering a large portion of the internet. Competitors and industries sometimes have cross-licensing agreements and other open initiatives that go beyond software.

This is an area I plan to learn more about, especially by finding people and organizations who are experts on the subject. So this is Part 1 of a future series of exploration.

For now, here is a brief overview of the dichotomy and debate on incentives to reward progress people and teams make in science, technology, and other areas.