Barcode Birthday: 60 Years Since Patent Was Issued

Today marks the 60th anniversary of the patent grant for the utilitarian barcode. Sixty years you say? If you think it doesn’t feel like it’s been in use that long, you would be right. The Barcode was patented 60 years ago, but the technology to actually put it into practice didn’t emerge for another 22 years. Patent or practical use doesn’t really matter; the Barcode is passing a milestone and has changed the way we live.

But the black-and-white stripes did not get a universal welcome, with some wine manufacturers refusing to incorporate barcodes onto their labels for aesthetic reasons.

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Man if I patented something like that I'd be swimming in royalty checks.

A proof that the patent system has been broken for a long time. Patent like this are causing a lot of dumb lawsuit today. If you can't do it, you can't patent it. That should be the rules. Also if it's only aesthetic you can't patent it either.

MrPatate said:

A proof that the patent system has been broken for a long time. Patent like this are causing a lot of dumb lawsuit today. If you can't do it, you can't patent it. That should be the rules. Also if it's only aesthetic you can't patent it either.

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Either that or this is an example of how the system actually works when it isn't subservient to patent Trolls ... the modern patent system is flawed and needs repair (primarily in the area of software patents) ... I don't know what the licensing requirements of barcodes are but I would assume it is not unreasonable since they are so ubiquitous ... they might be the case study of how a revised system should work for all we know

MrPatate said:

A proof that the patent system has been broken for a long time. Patent like this are causing a lot of dumb lawsuit today. If you can't do it, you can't patent it. That should be the rules. Also if it's only aesthetic you can't patent it either.

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How? If he hadn't patented it then, and patented when it was doable, Bar Codes would have never taken off. It only worked because the technology to read them came out AND the patent was expired, which is exactly why the patent system exists. To allow a monopoly for a short term(17 years from issue date or 20 years from filing date, whichever is later) and then allow free reign afterwards.

Without patents, the majority of medicine over the past 50 years would never have been researched because the companies that do the research into them are private for-profit companies.

Software patents are the issue, not the entire patent system.

Pinski said:

Without patents, the majority of medicine over the past 50 years would never have been researched because the companies that do the research into them are private for-profit companies.

Software patents are the issue, not the entire patent system.

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When the companies patent a medicine, they have it, they created it. They have the right to patent it. They don't patent an idea, they actually have a product or have a way to prove it will work with precise information. Being able to patent anything is idiotic. The Star Trek(or any other sci-fi writer) creator could have patented everything in the show. And have all the rights for cellphone, voice control, etc. Which would kill a lot of innovation because of those patent.

You are right they have an expiration date, but its way too long and the system lets too much crap get patented. A patent should be given on something that is doable right now, not a concept or a crazy idea. It also should require very strict information (unlike Apple's patent which are ridiculously vague), so you can protect YOUR creation, but not limit others to create something different but which at the end would do the same thing (which is right now the big issue with software).