Heather Dowd - CC BY-SA 2.0

One of my favourite podcasts is This American Life (TAL) from National Public Radio in the US. It’s a one-hour weekly radio show hosted by the charming and highly crush worthily Ira Glass.

Recently TAL dedicated an entire episode to patents. Or more accurately to the disruptive nature of patents and patent trolls. US Patents were originally intended to support entrepreneurs but in their current state actually stifle creativity and innovation. With patent lawyers in the US estimating that just about anything invented now will violate current patents. Including toast or rather the thermal refreshing of bread. US Patent Number 6080436 issued in 2000. They estimate that 30% of US Patents are for things that have already been invented.

Head down the patent rabbit hole here

Audio: This American Life – When Patents Attack

Blog: Planet Money

 

Kelsey Wiens

Our intrepid curator hails from Canada. Kelsey has 6 years of research experience working in special libraries in the Great White North. Kelsey has a curious passion for copyright and is know for mashing interesting people together and her chocolate chip cookies. She arrived in Cape Town from Cairo on her bicycle. Specializing in digging up gems of Creative Commons in South Africa, Kelsey loves new information and can't wait to hear your stories. Her top three books as a child would be Anne of Green Gables, Little Orphan Annie Volumes1-3, and James and the Giant Peach and she thinks Catcher in the Rye is highly overrated.

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