I haven’t read the article but what’s described in the headline is abhorerent. Ironically the technology could be used to identifying times when artists’ identities are being misattributed or stolen. Pretty simple for an artist to define their portfolio then have a bot flag anything it finds with their signature on it that they didn’t create themselves.
Canada is alternative option. British Columbia has similar geography to Oregon and we likewise have national parks. There’s lots of regions where Canada and US each have complementary national parks on the border with hiking trails that cross the border into each other’s parks. I don’t know how those are being managed under the current state of affairs however.
The original justification for patents at least had some logic to it. In exchange for progressing the state of the art and telling everyone else how your new invention works you get a period of market exclusivity. There was/is the option to not patent ideas and keep them as trade secrets instead, at the risk of others figuring out your idea.
Unfortunately for all of us 20 years is a really long time for exclusivity at our current tech development pace and in no way are patents consumable information for laypeople. The nonsense filings that get granted and all the lawyers involved have turned it into yet another tool only available to the wealthy.
Also from Canada. I recognized him because I recall one music video of his getting some rotation on tv in the early 2000s but I have a really good memory for that type of thing. I’d guess the majority of people here wouldn’t know him.
I agree with you, I recently explained it to a group of engineers and techs.