I was kind of surprised to see the number of patents that were granted related to almost the same idea and the little variation between each patent. The more alarming fact is that these patents didn't see the light of the day as they are not implemented which means that they are not helping the online audience.
This reminded me of something, that used to be a norm in Indian buses some 15-20 years ago. The moment a bus comes into the bus station, people will jump in and keep their hand kerchiefs or news papers or towels even before getting into the bus as a sign of that seat being reserved for them. Then they will leisurely come and claim their seat. Those people who took the pain to stand in the queue will not find a seat as ever seat is reserved.
These days things changed, people became more civilized and such things are not happening. But i see a much similar thing happening in the so called civilized world of patenting.
I am not against patents, but the fact that applying and processing a patent is quite expensive makes it easy for corporates to acquire patents. Obviously, these corporates will not try these patents until they see a business value of it. This makes a creative idea stay in the backyard of a great big company and doesn't help the users.
Even if a non corporate has to apply for a patent, he should ensure not to step on to any of the existing patents which is very difficult given the existing maze of patents.
I found this image very related to the context of my post.
Here is a link to the number of patents each corporate had by the end of year 2012.
Hope you agree with this.
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