How Do I Put an Invention Into the Public Domain? 233
Nefarious Wheel writes "I have a couple of inventions — mechanical devices, based on physical principles — that I believe could transform certain aspects of industry. The trouble is, I can't afford to file patents, and even if I could, I'm not sure that would be the best way for these devices to be made available as widely as I'd like. Is there some way to publish the details of these innovations in the public domain in such a way as to protect them from being snaffled away by some patent troll? I'd be happy with a contribution (or simple attribution) model for recompense, which could be zero to whatever, but that's not as important to me as getting the ideas out there for anyone who wants to use them. This isn't copyright, and I know of no patent equivalent to Creative Commons. In short, what's the best way to protect an invention against someone filing a patent on it, short of patenting the device yourself? Can this be done?"
First thought from a Republican... (Score:3, Funny)
simple (Score:5, Funny)
Send me all the plans, complete details, drawings, and figures. I'll file everything for you and everyone will be happy.
Honest. Really.
The check's in the mail.....
Physical principles... (Score:5, Funny)
Here [thinkgeek.com] is the invention.
Call Cory Doctorow... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Have to publish it in the right place (Score:5, Funny)
Well, that's the discussion wrapped up nice and neat in just two comments. Well done Slashdot!
Re:Have to publish it in the right place (Score:5, Funny)
That seems to be an interesting concept.
Just make sure that you have a reference site to point to for the Wikipedia entry.
Add some usenet postings too just for the sake of it. But I suspect that very few today does read usenet, so it may be better to put a reference in your sig here at Slashdot and then comment articles like a maniac for a while.
Re:Have to publish it in the right place (Score:3, Funny)
If you want your work widely disseminated, you need to run a P2P app like LimeWire with a public share folder, and within that folder, you have a folder named 'Secret Plans', where you put your information into.
Re:Have to publish it in the right place (Score:2, Funny)
If you want your work widely disseminated, you need to run a P2P app like LimeWire with a public share folder, and within that folder, you have a folder named 'Secret Plans', where you put your information into.
no...you share the folder with the name "Britney Spears Megan Fox Paris Hilton {your hottie here} naked nude porn pr0n". *THAT'S* how you make sure it's widely disseminated.
Re:Have to publish it in the right place (Score:5, Funny)
Well, that's the discussion wrapped up nice and neat in just two comments. Well done Slashdot!
Last Post! ;-)