• vexikron@lemmy.zip
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    11 months ago

    Do many people know that there is actually a patent for the idea of an advertisement that plays to a certain point… and then does not end, will not let you skip it, until you as the user, via a camera and microphone, can be verified to have assumed a pose, made a facial expression, and/or said a specific phrase?

    The actual patent shows a smart tv ‘owner’ standing up and saying McDonalds! in order to like keep watching Netflix.

    We quite literally have the tech and the legal framework for ‘Drink Verification Mountain Dew Can’ to actually be a thing.

    • antonim@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      11 months ago

      The illustration of that patent practically a meme, many on Lemmy should know it.

      Though it should be kept in mind there’s thousands of patents that were never actually applied, and this one was filled back in 2009.

      We quite literally have the tech and the legal framework

      Do patents necessarily have to follow the law?

      • pivot_root@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        Though it should be kept in mind there’s thousands of patents that were never actually applied, and this one was filled back in 2009.

        This is genuinely a good thing, then. If you patent something and “accidentally” never use it, it prevents other companies from using it legally. Screw over advertisers and save the consumers from their terrible ideas by hoarding patents and working with a patent troll firm :)

        • unrelatedkeg@lemmy.sdf.org
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          10 months ago

          Not really. Patests expire and then they can just read the specs in your idea. No reverse-engineering effort required.

      • vexikron@lemmy.zip
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        11 months ago

        Eh? Do patents necessarily have to follow the law?

        …no? They are ideas.

        They are also a legal construct to organize business uses and control of ideas around.

        Hence a patent and the patent system are a legal framework.

        Legal frameworks are often involved in things that later end up being determined to be illegal.

        Large businesses usually like to set up some kind of comprehensive legal framework before they roll out a new product or feature.

        Not saying they will. I am saying setting up a legal framework is usually groundwork before you do though.