Stealing Pong

Nolan Bushnell created Pong and launched the video game industry. But it wasn't his creation at all: he stole it. Well, not really; he "innovated."

While that may seem a pretty fine distinction, it's also a very important one. As this Techdirt article points out, innovation is what really drives new product creation and market forces, not invention. The point is that silliness like Apple patenting rectangles has a chilling effect on innovation, which can result in market stagnation -- and in extreme cases a legalized monopoly.

I don't think anybody is seriously suggesting that we just preemptively toss out the patent and I.P. systems. That would result in chaos. But I also don't think many people would disagree that some reform (and perhaps a dose of common sense) is needed in how they are applied.