He has never patented any of his ideas, simply because all told, getting a patent costs about $250.
Patent costs are 15-20% of its selling price, or about half of what the hardware components cost.
Simply applying for a patent costs $10,000 to $20,000 if you're lucky and that's just the legal work.
Last, DGML optimizes the sharing of knowledge and design as there are no patent costs to pay for.
Lowering patent costs does spur innovators to protect their inventions, he said, but removing the costs could encourage people to register patents they have no intention of using.
For example, filing a patent costs 20 times as much in Europe as it does in the United States or Japan, he said.
Going to court to uphold a patent costs a company a minimum of $1.5m; that may oblige innocent firms to pay to settle and prevents infringed parties from seeking redress.
Although small companies can get patents, the big companies can afford to litigate -- when it comes into court, guess who's going to win?" Absurd patents can be fought and overthrown, but to challenge a patent costs, on average, more than $1 million.
They will ask for milestone payments, royalties, upfront, patent costs.
This can be a patent (costs $25k generally and takes time to obtain) or a secret sauce or formula like Coke.
