On Monday 30 Jul 2007 7:47 pm, Lawnun wrote: > Patents, unlike trade secrets, also force knowledge to the fore.
This is an interesting statement that manages to hide more about knowledge than one might imagine. Thousands of technologies and processes go unpatented, and the results of that knowledge come to the fore, but the knowledge itself remains hidden. For example the painful process of elimination that aero engine manufacturing companies have been through that tells them exactly what routes the must NOT take each time they design a new engine is a trade secret that is not patented, but its effects on the real world are very evident - with only a few companies managing to churn out all the aero engines in the world. The business of knowledge is also about "negative" knowledge of what is wrong as well as what is right. The other question I have is whether patents are given for products or for the product plus the process by which that product is made. For example is it possible to patent a single piece "blisk" for an aero engine without revealing the process by which it is made? If so, little knowledge is being brought to the fore. I believe some issues of this nature dogged drug patents in India until recently. shiv
