Originally Posted by
Macca
With needle drops there is a UK copyright issue. If we allow them here, for instance, then Google kick off about it.
Copying for one's own use in this country is still illegal as well.
My understanding of patents is that aside from the Chinese who don't care and can't be touched anyway, that it is still impossible to protect your patents unless you are a multinational company with bottomless pockets.
I used to go out with the daughter of the bloke who invented those stick on fingers that made it look like someone was trapped in the boot of your car.
He told me that there was no viable way to protect it so when it took off he just sold as many as he could before the copies arrived on the market. He said he got one good year and an E class Merc out of it.