Patents have really gotten out of fucking hand
You can’t be patenting “the concept of throwing a spherical object to capture a creature” that’s fucking insane
this post was submitted on 12 May 2025
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"Enemy will remember what you did and act accordingly" is also patented
Yeah, it’s fucking absurd
This one hurts
I used to think software patents were particularly bogus. Like, you're not even patenting an invention here, you are patenting the application of mathematics. The more I think about it though, the more obvious it is that there is no justification for patents whatsoever. Even in the realm of conventional manufacturing, there is no justification to hand out monopolies on this or that mechanical interface. The story about the independent inventor "protecting" their idea from being "stolen" by big business is about as realistic as the Tooth Fairy. Any product beyond the complexity of the Hitachi Magic Wand is going to be covered by DOZENS of patents. Owning one of them doesn't do shit for you. Doesn't give you any leverage. You will be forced to license it in exchange for not being sued over the dozen other patents you end up violating. The only thing patents are good for is crushing competition. It is impossible to build any competitive appliance or machine, even in a clean room, which doesn't violate arbitrary patents because some fuckstick "came up with the idea" of having a 60 degree taper on some mechanical component instead of a 45 degree taper, or using three set-screws instead of four, or some other obvious bullshit like "putting the thing the servo is pushing and pulling on a lubricated rail," or "a mechanism for squirting lubricant onto the rail every 15 minutes."
The fundamental justification of patents doesn't even hold. The idea is for "inventors" to disclose their designs, so that they can be cataloged, archived, studied, and drive the state of the art forward, but most engineers are prohibited from even reading them due to the additional liability that can be incurred from actually researching patents.
Not to mention, the majority of patents have outlived or will outlive their original inventor. Even if Steve Jobs was the tech genius he's portrayed as, he's dead and Apple still controls everything he made.
It's as you say: patents and copyright exist solely to stifle competition so larger entities can enshittificate their own products to generate more profits.
Bandai Namco patented mini-games in loading screens. I always remember Baldurs Gate on the Gamecube had a neat little interactive flame you controlled with one of the joysticks. By the time it expired about 10 years ago loading screens were too short to justify them.
From Mario 64 patent:
I would be okay with this if it defined each of those angles. And then if you do a slightly different angle you’re in the clear.
Otherwise that’s ridiculous
Modders stay winning
how the fuck can you patent "using a digital animal companion as a glider" and "summoning a thing by throwing a ball"
We got around the patent by making the palballs pallcubes
Just wait, they'll get lawyers after them as well knowing Nintendo
Am I the only one who took 10 run up attempts to finally parse the headline? I didn't realise 'Pocketpair' was a proper noun due to the Title Text, then I couldn't interpret "Nintendo and The Pokemon Company" as a single subject. Or are they like a run-on object? I don't know grammar terms well enough.