Chapter 1098: Deep water in patents and reputation
As for patent fees, there is no need to worry at all.
This is collected compulsorily from each mage tower by the Arcane Law Federation. It doesn't matter whether that mage tower is used or not. The technology is given to you anyway. Even if you don't use it, you still have to pay not a penny less in the patent fee.
Although the Arcane Federation does not have direct jurisdiction over each member's mage tower, it can control the mage tower in too many places.
Not to mention anything else, no mage tower dares to ignore the rules of the Arcane Federation in terms of the annual mithril share and the permission to read the Nese Scroll.
Before the Three Kingdoms Mithril Contract is completely loosened, it will be difficult for Netheril to produce its own mithril. If we don’t count on the Arcane Federation, how can we count on the elves or dwarves?
This is the Mage Tower. For individual spellcasters, the Arcane Law Association does not have such strong binding force, so we simply let it go.
But if individual spellcasters want to obtain patented spells or technologies, they must join a mage tower to obtain them. And the mage towers are all forced to pay fees, so how can those individuals be left free!
In fact, most of the mages in Netheril are organized. The so-called wild mages are actually very few and have no influence at all.
Of course, this is just for now. When magic becomes more popular in the future, there may be many wild mages.
But at that time, the competitiveness of organized organizations will only be stronger, and wild mages will become even less popular.
In terms of patents, the practices on Earth are very similar to those here. Patent fees are generally only collected from companies involved in commercial transformation. For personal use, as long as it is not excessive, most of them are left alone.
The only difference is that the patent fees from the Austrian-French Federation are compulsorily collected.
Xia Duo has actually always had doubts about this. Compulsory collection can indeed guarantee the income of creators, but it is not very friendly to many mage towers that do not use patented technology or do not have enough financial resources.
Think about it, if a mage tower does not register a new patent for a long time, the annual patent fees it needs to pay to other mage towers will become a huge burden.
It might even cause the Mage Tower to go bankrupt.
It doesn't matter if one or two Mage Towers go bankrupt. I'm afraid that a Mage Tower with rich heritage like the Seven Towers will force a large number of Mage Towers to go bankrupt.
Xia Duo suspected that this rule may have been designated by the Seven Towers in order to create conditions for launching a merger at some point in the future.
After reading the investigation report handed over by Iolum, while the two presidents of the Austrian and French Federation were here, Shado proposed to register a patent for this new technology that can reduce the cost of producing magic items.
But at the same time, he also raised some questions about the collection of patent fees, mainly the problem of indiscriminate mandatory collection.
He is very concerned about this. Although he is now the profiteer, who can guarantee that no one will suddenly register a large number of patents and then use the patent fees to destroy the Tower of Time at once?
Perhaps the Seven Towers have no plans in this regard, but Xia Duo, who comes from Earth, is particularly sensitive to loopholes in this area.
Faced with Xia Duo's questions, Iolum shook his head repeatedly, "Lord Xia Duo is indeed the first lord who can take the lead in popularizing magic education in the territory. The angle you are considering is indeed something we have never thought of. But
Now that I know it, it’s a headache!”
“Isn’t it possible to just charge users?”
"Of course we can't!"
Iolum sighed, looked at Congenio, and then said to Shado: "How do you define a user? Is it a personal spellcasting? Or is it a magic item made? Or something like the Tower of Time?
Selling related magic items in large quantities like that?"
When Xia Duo heard this, he subconsciously said that of course he was manufacturing a large number of products for sale, but he immediately thought that the person who used the patent the most was not the owner of the patent?
In other words, Tower of Time registers a patent, uses the patent, and pays the fees to itself. Isn’t this a lonely registration?
And if personal spellcasting is also defined as the user, then it involves how to confirm the use. The scrying spell can do this, but it also avoids scrying spells.
Contradictions and contradictions exist at the same time, just like Xia Duo, who has the spell to avoid detection almost all the time. In this case, who can still receive his patent fees?
This is really unclear.
If you can't explain it clearly, you won't receive patent fees, so will the creator still be willing to register a patent?
Sure enough, the water inside was very deep, and Xia Duo felt a little unsure of it, but the problem was real. If we left it there, who knew whether it would explode one day.
Thinking like this, Xia Duo added: "It is better to establish a patent registration publicity period. This will at least give the relevant Mage Tower some buffer time to think about countermeasures."
This is actually a similar approach on Earth. Generally, there will be a public notice period before certain important documents, appointments or registrations take effect. During this period, those who object can file appeals, reconsiderations or rejections.
Put here, if the Seven Towers register a large number of patents with the intention of attacking the small mage tower organization, then there are not only seven towers of great arcanists in Netheril.
It is estimated that some mage towers that cannot survive will soon seek refuge with other great arcanists, or they may form alliances between small organizations, eventually spawning an alliance large enough to fight against the Seven Towers.
(You don’t have to be a Grand Arcanist, as long as there are enough high-level mages to check and balance the Grand Arcanist. No one can do anything about destroying them everywhere. The Seven Towers are not the words of one person, but the combination of the strength of many parties. Worry
Heavy, definitely not easy to start fighting, more just soft pressure)
Of course, if the Seven Towers really launch such an attack, it means to a large extent that the Seven Towers are confident enough to achieve what they need, whether that purpose is annexation or just pressure.
The cards are in other people's hands, and they can play whatever they want. The key is that you still need to be strong yourself.
And the fundamental reason why Xia Duo made this suggestion was not to restrict large organizations like Seven Towers, and it couldn't be restricted at all.
What he actually wants is a fairer and more stable competitive environment.
Although such an environment is beneficial to small organizations, it is more beneficial to large organizations like Seven Towers. A fair and stable environment or rules does not mean that the strong are restrained.
Instead, it was the beginning of the crushing of size.
Similar to the competition between large companies and small companies on earth, the more fair it is, the harder it is for small companies to defeat large companies, because fairness is not reflected in the results, but in the process and within the rules.
Sometimes in order to restrict large companies from taking advantage of fair rules, those in power have to formulate special protection rules that favor small businesses.
At the current stage of Netheril, it is a bit too early to talk about special rules that favor the weak, but at least we must first create a relatively fair environment in terms of rules.
Such an environment is also beneficial to Xia Duo.
In addition, spreading the word can also help gain some reputation.
Since the awakening of the bloodline, the demand for faith, reputation or belief has become greater and greater. Now Xia Duo especially wants to experience the feeling of freely traveling to the outer plane. (You can already go to the outer plane, but cannot return on your own)
Now that you have decided not to keep a low profile anymore, why not gain more reputation to increase your bloodline awakening level?
Sha Duo suddenly had the feeling that maybe this was the correct way to open the time traveler. Fortunately, this feeling came and went quickly. After making his suggestion, he silently waited for Iolum's reaction.