This is going to sound crazy, and if anyone quotes the second law of thermodynamics to me I may get a little upset, but I'm going to lay it on you anyway.
Suppose you knew someone who had invented a device that made water run uphill under its own weight, without any fuel of any kind.
Suppose that person had built the device, tested it, dismantled it, and wanted to patent it so that they could (obviously) make ungodly amounts of money from the patent rights.
Suppose they asked if you wanted to invest in the device, but not directly - all this person wants is for money to be placed in trust, in a trust not controlled by them in any way, shape or form, with money released only when the device was shown to be working, and for money to be used only to pay patenting fees.
Would you invest in such a thing?
Anyway long story short, someone that I know is in exactly that situation. The story with patents is that in order to patent something, you obviously have to pay a fee to the patent office in your country. If you want to patent the device worldwide, you have to pay a fee to every patent office in every country. If, however, you show anyone who is not in the research team how the device works, then the device is deemed "unpatentable" by the patent office and no one can patent it - ever.
What then happens is a situation where people want to invest, but want to see the device, but if the inventor tries to patent it thereafter, they can't, and so the inventor doesn't show them, and they don't invest.
So my inventor friend has turned around and said "if there was money guaranteed in some account somewhere controlled by some independent party who would only release it upon lodging of a patent application, demonstration that the machine works, and if released, the money could only be used in paying for the patent, then I'd do it".
Anyway, supposing all of this is the case (it is, this man is a good friend of mine, and I think that he just wants to achieve it before he passes away - aged 70), my question apart from the obvious "would you do it" is what kind of legal vehicle/escrow/trust/whatever would you use to get this done?
Oh and because some of you are no doubt curious, the device is entirely mechanical, scalable, and supposing a dam was built with dimensions 100m x 100m x 30m high with the device placed next to it, would generate enough electricity to power the homes of 20 000 people (approx 15 megawatts). The device works by recycling water from low to high as it goes through a turbine.
Cheerios
Suppose you knew someone who had invented a device that made water run uphill under its own weight, without any fuel of any kind.
Suppose that person had built the device, tested it, dismantled it, and wanted to patent it so that they could (obviously) make ungodly amounts of money from the patent rights.
Suppose they asked if you wanted to invest in the device, but not directly - all this person wants is for money to be placed in trust, in a trust not controlled by them in any way, shape or form, with money released only when the device was shown to be working, and for money to be used only to pay patenting fees.
Would you invest in such a thing?
Anyway long story short, someone that I know is in exactly that situation. The story with patents is that in order to patent something, you obviously have to pay a fee to the patent office in your country. If you want to patent the device worldwide, you have to pay a fee to every patent office in every country. If, however, you show anyone who is not in the research team how the device works, then the device is deemed "unpatentable" by the patent office and no one can patent it - ever.
What then happens is a situation where people want to invest, but want to see the device, but if the inventor tries to patent it thereafter, they can't, and so the inventor doesn't show them, and they don't invest.
So my inventor friend has turned around and said "if there was money guaranteed in some account somewhere controlled by some independent party who would only release it upon lodging of a patent application, demonstration that the machine works, and if released, the money could only be used in paying for the patent, then I'd do it".
Anyway, supposing all of this is the case (it is, this man is a good friend of mine, and I think that he just wants to achieve it before he passes away - aged 70), my question apart from the obvious "would you do it" is what kind of legal vehicle/escrow/trust/whatever would you use to get this done?
Oh and because some of you are no doubt curious, the device is entirely mechanical, scalable, and supposing a dam was built with dimensions 100m x 100m x 30m high with the device placed next to it, would generate enough electricity to power the homes of 20 000 people (approx 15 megawatts). The device works by recycling water from low to high as it goes through a turbine.
Cheerios
