• Question: do you have any patents?

    Asked by katie to Alex, Chris, Harriet, Jed, Ken on 13 Mar 2012.
    • Photo: Alexander Zacheshigriva

      Alexander Zacheshigriva answered on 13 Mar 2012:

      Nope.

    • Photo: Ken Gibbs

      Ken Gibbs answered on 13 Mar 2012:

      Hi Katie: This is a very perceptive question. There are quite a few things I have designed which could have been patented except for one thing – I did the work while employed by the United Nations. Anything which is invented, or designed, or developed by someone in the full time employment of the UN, is not permitted to be patented. It becomes public property (they use a grand term “in the public domain”) but for very good reason.

      An example is the Tara handpump (see my profile) which is now spread around the world. Because I designed it while working for the UN, it is now in the public domain which means that anyone can make it. In India and Bangladesh, for instance, there is fierce competition between manufacturers, so that prices are kept as low as they can be while still making a small profit. This means that families and small communities that wish to buy one will only pay what it costs to make them – and no more, because no “royalties” are paid to the designer.

    • Photo: Jed Ramsay

      Jed Ramsay answered on 13 Mar 2012:

      In construction works I use tried and tested techniques rather than try to invent something new! So nope, no patents for me.

      I am working on an piece of research at the moment, looking at how communities can get together and work to solve their own problems with flooding. Hopefully I’ll get this published in the next couple of months – it won’t be patented, but it should help to share some things I’ve learnt in my work with other people.

    • Photo: Harriet Fletcher

      Harriet Fletcher answered on 13 Mar 2012:

      No patents for me. I have published some research though.

      Whilst it would be nice to patent something and make your millions I think it is more valuable to get stuff out there so that other engineers can build on it. All engineering is building on tried and tested knowledge so the more knowledge is out there the more likely somebody will finally invent the machine to give everyone on the dancefloor a sense of rhythm (or something).

Comments