How do I properly open-source a mechanical invention of great importance?

2 points by benevol 4y ago ↗ HN

I want to open-source a mechanical invention of great importance to humanity - for 2 reasons:

1. Once the information is in the public domain, nobody can claim a patent anymore (and thus not block the wide/fast spread of the invention). Note: A Chinese judge may for example not strike down a patent if the invention was published in an obscure paper journal that only exists offline and in the US; the chosen medium must ideally have a certain visibility to ensure this "prior art" status and there must be a credible/verifiable date of publication.

2. Everybody should be able to use and build the invention (and ideally contribute to its wide/fast spread and improvement/optimization)

Open-sourcing maximizes the collective benefit for humanity - that is my goal.

What are the best platforms/tools/approaches you know of that allow this? (There is the _proprietary_ "Defensive Publishing/Prior Art Database" by IP.com, but it's hugely expensive to upload a bit of text and a few images, which turns me definitely off. Ideally somebody would build a blockchain-based service for this.)

2 comments

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PaulHoule 4y ago ↗

File a provisional patent application in the US (you can do this as little as $65 as a first time filer) and just don't apply for the actual patent.

benevol 4y ago ↗

Thank you! Awesome suggestion, it fully covers the patent-blocking aspect.

Now we just need a "Github for Mechanical Engineers".