Essentially, It would work like this:
You, the halfbakery member, would pay an extra five dollars per idea if you thought it was really great. Then, halfbakery would automatically put it in a section labeled "bakable" or something like that. It would store proof that you were the creator of this item and when you created it. Big companies would look through this section looking for essentially for free research teams, as the good ideas would have lots of croissants. The company would work with you to buy the rights to the product, and without doing much, you have made possibly hundreds of dollars.
When you get your product made, the croissants are replaced with one giant steaming one, with a watermark over some of the text: Baked.-- dehodson, Jun 19 2008 Ideas marketplace Ideas_20marketplace#1165228518 [xaviergisz, Jun 19 2008] Who says good ideas are rare? http://www.newyorke...512fa_fact_gladwell [bungston, Jun 20 2008] Submarine patent http://en.wikipedia...ki/Submarine_patent [xaviergisz, Jun 23 2008] Normally I'm not one for sensationalist aims, but...
how giant?-- daseva, Jun 19 2008 Proof of creation of an idea doesn't give you protection over an idea. If you've made an idea public knowledge, you've given it away. Your precise wording is copyright, but the concept is not protected.-- david_scothern, Jun 19 2008 This is actually a good idea. This can work because of the 'grace period' of patent filing. From the wikipedia entry on 'Novelty (patent)':
In some countries, such as the United States and Japan, a grace period exists for protecting an inventor or the successor in title from a publication of the invention before the filing date. That is, if the inventor or the successor in title publishes the invention, an application can still be validly filed which will be considered novel despite the publication, provided that the filing is made during the grace period following the publication. The grace period is usually 6 or 12 months.
It should be noted that the 'grace period' provision has, to my knowledge, rarely (if ever) been tested in court.-- xaviergisz, Jun 19 2008 (defers to xavier, whose job it is to know these things)-- david_scothern, Jun 20 2008 I actually had a tv production company contact me about one of my ideas on Halfbakery (i have since taken it down). Nothing came of it (yet) but it was a thriller to get the call.-- simonj, Jun 20 2008 There was a recent article (linked) in the New Yorker about the generation of ideas. I found it nondense in some ways but it was an entertaining read. One of the letters it generated pointed out that the proclivity of this idea-making group to file a bunch of patents then sit on them actually stifles innovation. If someone has a great idea and is in a position to do the hard work to make it real, it could be terminally discouraging to see that in addition to doing the hard work, one would have to pay some bunch of toads for the right to do it, just because they thought of it first.
I think it is better to submit ideas to the halfbakery, as I do, with nothing more than agape love and a desire to further the good of our species and our world.
Not that I would object to laudation and fabulous wealth, but mostly it is the good of our species.
Also groupies. I forgot groupies. No objections there either. But still it is mostly the good of our species.-- bungston, Jun 20 2008 //the proclivity of this idea-making group to file a bunch of patents then sit on them actually stifles innovation// It used to be called submarining. Happened with barcodes. It is no longer legal, but I will take informed opinion from xavier on that one.-- 4whom, Jun 20 2008 [4whom] Why is it illegal? If I have the idea first and protect it, why can I not choose whether to deploy it now or later? I'm intrigued.-- david_scothern, Jun 22 2008 Submarine patents were possible under pre-1995 US patent law. The changes to the law which have eliminated submarine patents are: 1) automatic publication of patent applications 18 months after filing (previously publication only occured when the patent was issued) ; and 2) patent term being calculated from filing date rather than issue date.-- xaviergisz, Jun 23 2008 (post-Wikipedia) I see. A submarine patent is filed, but sat upon while someone else does the hard work of developing a product and a market; the patent is then pursued and granted, whereupon the whole of the market has to pay royalties to the holder. I can see why this is now illegal.-- david_scothern, Jun 23 2008 random, halfbakery