Us Editorial Hunting in the Big Brain Preserve Patents not only constitute the infrastructure for technology, they provide an effective battleground as well. Tesla's royalties began to mount up more rapidly than anyone dreamed. Intellectual property is the infrastructure that supports our economy, especially since the industrial revolution. Since technology builds upon technology, the rate of increase increases, and our technological house of cards grows upon an ever more complex matrix of ideas and algorithms.
Patent protection is enormously important.
A company with astute patent enforcement will realize additional revenue without creating ill will among its user community. However, enforcement of a patent that does not appear to merit enforcement can have horrific results, especially in terms of public relations. Patents are the coinage of our time and must be protected. Still, sometimes these machinations seem foolish, inappropriate, or motivated by blind greed. The GIF was developed by CompuServe in 1987 and is based on Unisys technology patented in 1984, according to Dataquest.