Companies and Copyright Infringement / Factions and Tech specializations: Should they be restricted/

[Smeg]

SMEG'Z TOP TIPZ:

Limiting what your roleplayer can do is bad for the board, or (seeing as it's relevant right now) bad for your faction.

That's how you lose interest, and that's how you lose members.

Surpriiiiise!

 

[Matsu Ike]

*swoons*

Dante Basko

 

[Onrai]

I have lifetime patents. My poodoo don't expire.

Lifetime patents don't exist. Patents last for twenty years, no longer. I really hope that was joking...

 

[Desmond Voralis]

SMEG'Z TOP TIPZ:
Limiting what your roleplayer can do is bad for the board, or (seeing as it's relevant right now) bad for your faction.
That's how you lose interest, and that's how you lose members. Surpriiiiise!

I actually have to say that I find the opposite to be more true. Restrictions encourage creativity by requiring a writer to work around limitations. I'd actually argue that such structure is already a large part of the tech forum and would love to see these kinds of things extend further IC.

If someone doesn't want to negotiate for tech, well just undertake some corporate espionage or track down salvage or whatever. There are plenty of ways to work with or around IC and OOC limits with some well done lateral thinking and ingenuity.

 

[Cyrus Tregessar]

I would agree on the matter that certain technology (like, say, Proton Cannons on tanks or converting Hypervelocity Guns for use on ships) is probably highly classified and not likely to be considered standard fare. If anything the IC reactions should be threads to acquire/steal/develop the same/similar tech, rather than pretending that anyone wants to RP out a lawsuit on a Star Wars forum. On the other hand that's all sort of covered by dev threads already.

So it's a toss up between encouraging specialization (CIS has lots of X, Republic has lots of Y, Sith have lots of Z, etc.) and not restricting people from being creative. /shrug

And to be honest I find it more amusing than anything that ship-based HVC's are the new big thing. Sorry for unlocking pandora's box there, [member="Ayden Cater"].

 

[Ayden Cater]

[member="Cyrus Tregessar"]

I'm not the least bit sorry. I wanted them for a while, but I couldn't be the first one to pick them up. Downside to being a Factory judge. Gotta wait for someone else to come up with something before you can launch your own version of it.

 

[Aielyn Veralas]

Lifetime patents don't exist. Patents last for twenty years, no longer. I really hope that was joking...

This isn't real life.

Under current U.S. law, the term of patent is 20 years from the earliest claimed filing date (which can be extended via Patent Term Adjustment[clarification needed] and Patent Term Extension[clarification needed]). For applications filed before June 8, 1995, the term is either 17 years from the issue date or 20 years from the earliest claimed domestic priority date, whichever is longer.

That does not apply here. If I wanted to make my patent time limits auto renew every thirty years or never have an expiration, what is stopping me? Your silly Trade Federation holds no court over Incom Corporation. Pfffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffft. There is no U.S Government here.

 

[Cyrus Tregessar]

Now that I think about it, especially when it comes to weapons technology it's not exactly hard to figure out what someone is doing and replicate at least something with similar effects. So if you were gonna make a rule about it, at most I could see requiring a dev thread on how that Faction/Corporation was able to mimic/acquire/whatever that particular piece of technology. IF you were gonna make a rule.

 

[Ayden Cater]

Alyesa is right. There is nothing in any sort of Star Wars lore that would lead me to believe that patents have a time limit in Star Wars. Plus, plenty of companies in RL have extended their patents decades. Some have even been pushed past the century mark for how long they've been in effect.

 

[Onrai]

[member="Alyesa Praxon-Organa"]

And that gives you the excuse to eternally maintain a patent on a piece of technology forever? I'd hardly think so, otherwise there would be only one company producing blasters, or one company producing vibroblades. Or one company producing ion cannons, turbolasers, etc.

[member="Ayden Cater"]

Patents have a time limit. Patents expire. And patents can't be renewed. Nothing in Star Wars's legal system, of what little we've seen regarding business adjudication, has ever implied that patents are infinite and can be renewed forever until the end of time.

 

[Pa'Kar Sang]

For a while this was a non-issue because for the most part factions kept with their canon loves. The Republic used Incom and pumped out great fighters and used KDY for their Star Defenders. The Protectorate was new and did its own thing, but even then CEC did make (and still are making) freighter type ships. CIS was doing droids and the Mandos were doing Carries and small craft.

And then companies came.

And companies that usually specialized in one or two things started making all the things. And then everyone started just making...Everything. But for the most part a lot of the companies do specialize in a sort of product (because its really a problem of companies now, not factions as they are separate despite what some of us would like to think)
*eyes Larraq*

 

[Aielyn Veralas]

[member="Alyesa Praxon-Organa"]

And that gives you the excuse to eternally maintain a patent on a piece of technology forever? I'd hardly think so, otherwise there would be only one company producing blasters, or one company producing vibroblades. Or one company producing ion cannons, turbolasers, etc.

[member="Ayden Cater"]

Patents have a time limit. Patents expire. And patents can't be renewed. Nothing in Star Wars's legal system, of what little we've seen regarding business adjudication, has ever implied that patents are infinite and can be renewed forever until the end of time.

Actually, yes it does. Incom Corporation technically has owned the X-Wing since it's inception. *checks* Nope, no one else has tried to claim ownership or patent the technology utilized in it. A design is different, sensor nodes such as the ones in the Stealth-X would be something that I would ROFLSTOMP you for as opposed to a silly common blaster or a vibroblade. I'd say unique pieces of technology, things that were taken from common and turned into unique.

And again, Enigma, you're wrong. Unless you can show reference to your statement to [member="Ayden Cater"], you're wrong. I have never seen any business setup, design, or even law fleshed out in the Star Wars universe in over 36 years that the EU has been in existence that states anything about patents expiring.

If so, please show me where.

Did I miss the release of Star Wars Guide to Businesses and Corporations?

 

[Ayden Cater]

[member="Enigma"]

Considering that companies like KDY and Incom have made ships that continuously resemble their old product lines and other companies don't... I'm gonna go on a limb here and say that yeah, patents are functionally timeless in Star Wars.

 

[Onrai]

[member="Ayden Cater"]

That's purely stylistic. They stick with that, ICly at least, because the designs are memorable to the public, a symbol of hope(in the case of X-Wings) or terror(in the case of TIEs). OOCly, they stick with designs resembling those of the Galactic Civil War because we all think TIEs and X-Wings are cool, and it would be awesome to have some derivative of them in existence somewhere in the galaxy at this point in the timeline. It has nothing to do with patents - customer affinity IC, and nostalgia OOC.

 

[Ayden Cater]

[member="Enigma"]

Well when you find me an X-Wing that uses a TIE engine, we can talk more. Until then, I'm sticking to the patents are continuously renewed, so you rip things off at your own peril.

 

[Onrai]

[member="Ayden Cater"]

You were saying?

It's an X-Wing, it uses a Twin ion Engine to maneuver in space, and was built by a third-party. And according to canon, neither Sienar nor Incom got sue-happy about it.

 

[Ayden Cater]

[member="Enigma"]

Parts acquired separately and put together on their own. That's like building a shelf out of parts from Walmart and IKEA. That's not an example of a company taking another company's products and making their own version of it. Try again.

 

[Onrai]

[member="Ayden Cater"]

It's an X-Wing with a TIE engine. The Twee company producing it used Sienar and Incom tech put together to create said X-Wing with a TIE Engine. 9/10 says they more than likely had the parts to make X-Wings or TIE fighters, but instead, they made this.

Until you can show me where, in canon, it is clearly and unequivocally stated that a company can eternally maintain a patent, and can renew it after expiration, I will turn to the only other source - international patent law.

 

[Ayden Cater]

[member="Enigma"]

Let me know how the next dozen lawsuits go for you. Heard the last one didn't turn out so hot.

 

[Aielyn Veralas]

[member="Enigma"]

Just stop while you're ahead or partially ahead.

I'm serious, you can't win this. I had to learn when to quit too and believe me just walk away. You aren't going to be able to rip off a TIE Fighter, a Corellian Corvette, a Star Destroyer, or something that is a specific design without repercussions. I don't give a damn what anyone says.

In the business world, if you wanna look at IRL, Apple sued Samsung for a wide variety of small things to include:

- “bounce back” effect when scrolling to the end of a list
- pinch-to-zoom patent (the feature that enables users to zoom in and out of an image by touching the screen and pinching or expanding their fingers)
- using a double tap to zoom into and center content
- home screen GUI
- contours on the back of the iPhone