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103 Comments
- CornStarch, on 10/10/2007, -4/+47Maybe because people don't patent as much crap here. Nobody wants a USB powered hello kitty ashtray here.
- eKstreme, on 10/10/2007, -10/+51Ummm... higher patent counts do not automatically equate to better innovation. Calling a country the "motherland of inventions" because it's awarded more patents is like calling an inbox the "motherland of communication" because it has a lot of messages, which a lot of can be spam.
So yeah, great for Japan and Switzerland, but there is more to this than simple tallies. - ReinMasamuri, on 10/10/2007, -3/+43I lived in Japan for a year.
They are horrible at new inventions, but they are unmatched in improving on current inventions - Virak, on 10/10/2007, -3/+29For those who don't quite grasp moonspeak, I'm pretty sure this translates to "Because the Japanese people are great." or such. No promises though, my Japanese skills are next to nonexistent.
- wayback09, on 10/10/2007, -1/+27I guess we lost out on the used panties vending machine patent.
- xcursedx, on 10/10/2007, -3/+21what alot of people don't realize is japan doesn't recognize worldwide patents,
so if you have a patent for a product outside of japan you have to patent whatever separately in japan as well, as well as many of those patents could be rip offs of other stuff patented over here.
But as japans system is different and doesn't recognize any other patents - BIGmog, on 10/10/2007, -1/+14The article also states that if you care to read it.
"As such, they measure success in discovering or inventing new things. They do not measure innovation, nor the economic activity that ensues." - Hetman, on 10/10/2007, -0/+12"You only have to go into a Japanese pub in the evening to hear animated businessmen carrying on their after-hours office discussions. Perhaps it is the birru, jizake and shochu that are the real tonics for innovation."
This is the problem with america today. When I read books about the 40,50,60, and 70, you hear about men sitting around bars comming up with great idea. Making innovation out of nothing. And now when I go to socialize with anyone the only thing I hear is ***** about sports or t.v. and some vague whinny about how politics suck. Maybe its me and I need better company but I just do not feel that the mentality of this society really wants to accomplish or create anything. - teckieee, on 10/10/2007, -0/+11you two sure your not one person?
- ActiveMatx, on 10/10/2007, -3/+13I don't know why people are digging you down. I was cracking out loud on that.... (only funny if u know who 'hard gay' is)
- inactive, on 10/10/2007, -6/+15japanese game shows are awesome!
- ZippyV, on 10/10/2007, -2/+10I like him and it looks like those children like him too!
- codelogic, on 10/10/2007, -0/+8A patent granted for something like a USB powered hello kitty ashtray is far better than the highly uninnovative and unoriginal patents granted by USPTO. Something stupid and obvious like a single clicking (Amazon), double clicking (Microsoft), recording video to hard drive (in 2006, technology that's been around for ages). List is endless.
- luke16, on 10/10/2007, -4/+11*does pelvic thrust*
- TitaniumLizzard, on 10/10/2007, -0/+6http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52OBzh2khgU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bK63uSTTNs
god I love the internet - Gnasche, on 10/10/2007, -1/+7A: Because the Chinese never patented anything?
Like gunpowder, paper, the compass, silk, the abacus, toilet paper... - nitrousconsumed, on 10/10/2007, -0/+6i bet that a quarter of their patents have something to do with hello kitty.
- nikkilai, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5It's because of the Chindogu
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chind%C5%8Dgu
An example of Chindogu: http://www.clive.frankham.btinternet.co.uk/images/baby_mop_1.gif - PaulOwen, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5Green tea and a fish-based diet.
Seriously. - orca94, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5Your list has way too many UK listings which leads me to believe you're from the UK. First of all the internet (US) was arguably a more important invention than the WWW, which also wasn't invented in the UK. It was invented by a British and Belgian scientist working at CERN (an international organization close to Geneva), so it could hardly be called a British invention. Also the first electromechanical television system was invented by a German well before the system developed by a Scotsman that you're likely referring to which was an improvement on the German system. The first computer was developed by a German in 1941, however digital computing was mainly a product of the US. Also the first antibiotic was theorized by a French scientist before Fleming who discovered Penicillin by accident.
Also while Japan isn't directly responsible for many big name technologies it's certainly responsible for improving, miniaturizing, and further developing big name technologies. Your cell phone, laptop, pda etc.. wouldn't be nearly as small or energy efficient as it is today without Japanese technology, nor would there be hybrid vehicles in their current form on the roads today. In fact without Japan we'd still be without major alternatives to GM and Ford's ridiculous fuel inefficient vehicles. - kazamx, on 10/10/2007, -1/+5The article says that
- h4mx0r, on 10/10/2007, -1/+5HARD GAY FOOOOOO!
- halavais, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4And better math skills too!
- Juroujin, on 10/10/2007, -3/+7Where did the Wii come from again?
- esbern1, on 10/10/2007, -4/+8dugg down. this is only about the ease to get patents in japan, and little to do with the country's technological development
- inactive, on 10/10/2007, -1/+5So you think mention of "mother" and "invention" is a Zappa reference? wow. just wow. Ever heard of necessity?
- Virak, on 10/10/2007, -1/+4I know a small set of words, can read kana and recognize a few kanji, and have some grasp of basic grammar. I can understand simple things like this, but anything more complex usually just confuses me. Though I mostly picked it up from entirely too much anime and manga, and I haven't really put any effort into learning it, so I guess that's not so surprising.
- iamorlando, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3Do you mean America the continent or America as in United States of America?
- inactive, on 10/10/2007, -1/+4Europeans, at least.
- yukevster, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3This is very misleading. Most of Japan's patents are not new, bright ideas - usually just modifications or something we would consider trivial.
I work at Panasonic in Tokyo - hell, for staff training they have students rewrite some software and apply for a patent just for the experience. - inactive, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3They do have higher average intelligence but the bulk of modern technology has originated in Europe or from Europeans, so obviously it takes more than intelligence. Regardless of number of patents.
- EEEECHUTA, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2は is correct because the sentence contains a nuance that Japanese people *specifically* out of all the different people in the world, are amazing.
- Genma, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2none of the products you mentioned were invented in america.
- Zique, on 10/10/2007, -1/+3Or in this case Europeans make, Americans try to steal the glory, Japanese improve.
- betasp, on 10/10/2007, -1/+3They are not the other of inventors, they are the top users of IP law.
- j.carcinogen, on 10/10/2007, -1/+3The Japanese do not allow a certain percentage of "foreigners" to immigrate or even stay awhile leaving to a more consolidated society.
- shirosamurai, on 10/10/2007, -1/+3http://youtube.com/results?search_query=bakafish+hard+gay&search=Search
- smackhero, on 10/10/2007, -3/+5i'm pretty sure there are more patent trolls and frivolous patent litigations in the states than there are in japan.
- da_bradler, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2yeah but there porn sucks(stupid censoring)
- Error601, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Patenting a bunch of button and plug designs does not mean innovation. In fact you'll find almost all of the imports from Japan are based on US technology.
- zazzalicious, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1not all of them.
- lorean, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1You sir deserve a medal. A medal for being the biggest idiot.
With regards to your self-righteous lack of 'superfluous' concerns, I can conclude that you have no desire to live or procreate. Otherwise, you must have found some way to transmute your rich cash of spiritual energy into food and money. If so, that's really cool please teach me how k thx?
Do you have a lab? Is your lab equipment free? Do you hire lab assistants? Do they work for free too? Is your lab provided by a 3rd party? Do they sponsor it with no thought for gain?
Do you really think OTHER people would invest their resources making inventions to be stolen by others with no benefit to themselves?
Do you think the world would have had more inventions/inventors without a patent system?
You are really naive about how the world works, or an academic who rolled a 3 for wisdom. - pinr, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Some very good points, inventions and ideas in your response and not one of them Japanese unless that fish was of course.
- handheldchimp, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Come on! Can we really count the USB Keyboard Bra as a F***ING invention!?!?! I surely hope not...
- whiteyMcBrown, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1I've always found these sweeping generalizations to be funny. To be fair, I feel the same way when people talk ***** about Americans. It's like we live complicated lives and there are people of different personalities and abilities around us (wherever "we" may be) and people from other countries are one-dimensional cartoon characters. That aside, I'm with the crowd that thinks that the Japanese haven't invented as many things as the west (mostly, the U.S., recently) and patents are not accurate indicators of invention. There is also something to be said for refinement, however. In the global community that we're turning into, though, I don't know if any of this matters. As long as there are things being invented and they are constantly refined, I'm a happy consumer.
- diggdowner, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2Shouldn't it be が instead of は?
- SchnuggleMe, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Of course, they have nothing else to do. They don't need to waste billions of dollars on defense.
- redballoon, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1"This is the problem with . . . today" statements are the exemplar of generalizations.
- tjlsmith, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Great, does that mean we can cut off the gravy train to them now?
- Boreras, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1than with this being very misleading, don't you generally mean the faulty patent system?
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