The hypothetical scenario you describe would be tough for Hazardous software; however, they had the opportunity to do a patent search for related pending applications prior to investing any resources creating Achron.
The Patent subsystem of our govt can serve a useful purpose for inventors and society in general.
But as with nearly any system of this type, there are "corner-cases" for undesirable usage.
A big problem is that someone can submit a patent and "sit on it" for years and years. A fallow patent provides no value to taxpayers. At best, the issue of the patent had a marginal cost for taxpayers, but at worst, there is a huge opportunity cost if commercial development of the invention yields value.
Our patent system should demand inventors make timely, reasonable effort towards commercial development of their inventions.
Kudos to the Achron inventor (Christopher Hazard?) for doing just that.
The Patent subsystem of our govt can serve a useful purpose for inventors and society in general.
But as with nearly any system of this type, there are "corner-cases" for undesirable usage.
A big problem is that someone can submit a patent and "sit on it" for years and years. A fallow patent provides no value to taxpayers. At best, the issue of the patent had a marginal cost for taxpayers, but at worst, there is a huge opportunity cost if commercial development of the invention yields value.
Our patent system should demand inventors make timely, reasonable effort towards commercial development of their inventions.
Kudos to the Achron inventor (Christopher Hazard?) for doing just that.