Yasko said:
Mikehit said:
I wonder how you can patent illuminated buttons? There must be some fancy stuff going on in there - a miniature genetically engineered glow worm, perhaps?
German manufacturer Leica has a patent on illuminated controls of superresolution microscopes, prohibiting the competition to e.g. use illuminated keyboards (standard market components) or wheel controls... anything is possible in the F_____ up world of patent rights.
I highly doubt other manufacturers can't incorporate illuminated keyboards or controls on their products. They just have to be designed differently enough to not infringe on Leica's design.
Look at all the different mice, keyboards, motherboards, memory chips, batteries, cpu's, or a million other products that are similar, but with different patents held by many different companies and sold on the open market.
I don't see how that is messed up. A person or company that designs a product ought to have their intellectual property protected. This does not stifle the market. Instead, it breeds variety and competition and creativity. Allowing somebody to pirate a design destroys those things. Does Leica manufacturer the controls? Does Leica have an exclusive license to all manufactured illuminated keyboards? I doubt it. Just look at all the hundreds of choices of tires for your car. Each choice is patented. Every design is a little different. Patents are held by dozens of different manufacturers for thousands of different designs.
It isn't that Leica owns all patents to all illuminated keyboards. It sounds more like the competition is lazy or unable to innovate.
Closer to home, just look at all your lens choices. That is made possible in large part due to patent protections.
