When researchers find ideas to work on, they start searching previous research work related to their ideas. They may stop working on their ideas if they were previously published. They may also start to think in different ways to be able to publish in this area.
When it comes to patents, it is quite different. Researchers sometimes write papers/books with ideas previously patented. They might not know if those ideas have been patented before.
With the current patent system, it is quite hard to check patents published in all countries because 1- there is no efficient search engine for patents, and 2- the way patents are written is different than paper. Patents' titles are sometimes misleading.
Patents do not protect ideas. They do protect techniques, devices, designs. etc. However, this is quite vague. In engineering, we can say all our developed techniques, systems or methods are ideas, which gives a probability that all our ideas might be patented before.
In my opinion, patent is a particular way of implementation of the idea which can be further used for development of a commercial or industrial product. The technology used for the design of that particular product is to be unique and cannot be duplicated by other competitors.
In research point of view a same idea can be implemented in different ways and differentiation in the idea is how effective the prapoposed system over the other is computed or shown.
For example a simple control system with a basic PID controller can be replace with Fuzzy, ANN, Neuro-Fuzzy etc these are all different models of same idea..
This is all upto my understanding...
No problem.
Patents are created to protect the right to sell a particular thing, and for that protection the patent owner is required to publish the ideas contained therein for all to see.
A patent is just like a published paper until someone other than the patent holder sells the thing described in it.
Olof
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