Looking for old sci-fi short story about patent system gone amok.
April 27, 2012 10:29 AM Subscribe
Looking for old sci-fi short story about patent system gone amok.
Researching for a book project. As described to me, an old (1930-1950?) short story about a man from Earth who goes to another planet. On this planet, the patent system has been taken to ridiculous extremes, with all but the most common words, facial expressions, even feelings and actions, having been patented. E.g. you have to pay a license fee to tell someone you like them, or find an entirely novel way to express it.
So, Earth man meets local woman, realizes nature expresses his feelings for her and takes her to the countryside so the birds and beauty of the surroundings can demonstrate his affection without patented expressions. The ha-ha conclusion is that her reaction is "we can patent all this and be rich!"
Or something like that, interviewee wasn't 100% on the details. I've found various stories about patents, including Clarke's "Patent Pending" and Darlington's "Patent Rights." Also found a sci-fi comic with a very short tale called "The Patent Planet". None follow the described plot.
Thanks for any help.
Researching for a book project. As described to me, an old (1930-1950?) short story about a man from Earth who goes to another planet. On this planet, the patent system has been taken to ridiculous extremes, with all but the most common words, facial expressions, even feelings and actions, having been patented. E.g. you have to pay a license fee to tell someone you like them, or find an entirely novel way to express it.
So, Earth man meets local woman, realizes nature expresses his feelings for her and takes her to the countryside so the birds and beauty of the surroundings can demonstrate his affection without patented expressions. The ha-ha conclusion is that her reaction is "we can patent all this and be rich!"
Or something like that, interviewee wasn't 100% on the details. I've found various stories about patents, including Clarke's "Patent Pending" and Darlington's "Patent Rights." Also found a sci-fi comic with a very short tale called "The Patent Planet". None follow the described plot.
Thanks for any help.
Forgive me for the offtopic answer. I'm pretty sure this is NOT the story you're looking for, but I thought you might be interested in seeing another take on the same subject matter: Melancholy Elephants
posted by tkolstee at 8:26 AM on April 30, 2012
posted by tkolstee at 8:26 AM on April 30, 2012
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posted by The Tensor at 1:32 PM on April 27, 2012