I feel that I may have invented/discovered something novel which nobody else has discovered/invented yet. It pertains to VR and the field is fresh. I believe that it's pretty significant and I want to share it with the world. However, I am really worried about patents. The worst thing that could happen is someone sees what I came up with, discovers it is unpatented, submits and receives a patent for my invention, and then blocks everyone else from using it, including myself. They would have an exclusive right to this invention for a minimum of 20 years. Then the patent trolls would sue anyone who replicates the invention. It would do nothing but stifle innovation.
Innovation is like stacking blocks. Someone has to place the first block, then the next person stands on the placed block and places their block one increment higher, and it repeats infinitely. I step on the shoulders of engineers who came before me to raise the ceiling of progress. Those who come after me will stand on my shoulders and push the boundaries even higher. A litigious patent troll would effectively stop the pace of progress for 20+ years.
So, my thought is this: I need to start looking at my IP for unique and original patents, and then patent them. The reason to patent is not to exclude anyone from using my invention, but to safeguard the invention from being excluded from the world by litigious patent trolls. After I have secured the patent, I would be more than happy to share the implementation details with the rest of the world and give full blanket license to make use of it for any purpose whatsoever. I would probably have to make sure there is a grandfather clause so that if my company gets bought out, people don't lose their right to use and access the owned patent from the purchasing company.
Anyways, the next step is to probably start talking to a patent lawyer to look at the merit of what I've come up with and start pushing paperwork.
