Walter Banks wrote:

> Gerhard Fiedler wrote:
>> I know that I'm rather good at what I do, but I also know that my
>> "market value" can easily be doubled, tripled or more by someone who
>> is as good as I am at doing it at selling what I do (which I am
>> not). Which means that it would be fair to say that the difference
>> would be his, right?
> 
> Look at how venture capitalists value ideas. Someone who takes an
> idea and creates a working concept has one value. There is a
> succession of players in the mix each with a specific value added. 

Exactly. Most non-trivial ways to make money involve quite some
knowledge and a broad set of skills, so you generally need a few people.
Getting (and keeping) these together is a skill by itself :)


>> That's quite similar with product ideas. You get about what you put
>> in. If the only thing you put into it was a publication (low risk,
>> low return), then there isn't much you get out of it.
> 
> Editorial ads are far more effective than paid ads. The tradeoffs are
> more complex than the simple structure. I accept the point of risk
> reward and returns

I didn't mean this as ad, but in the sense of the OP's issue.
Apparently, the original inventors didn't go much further (in terms of
investing into the idea) than to publish it (after they invented it, of
course). They could've gone further, but chose not to.

>> If you created a company to produce and market the gizmo, you
>> invested a whole lot more, and if it works out, you get all the
>> riches that your idea potentially contained -- or you lose all of
>> your (possibly substantial) investment.
> 
>> In a way, this Bristlebot issue is not much different from an MP3
>> player. Someone somewhere "invented" it, but many followed. I'm not
>> sure the world would be a richer place if only the original
>> "inventor" had the right to make and sell MP3 players.
> 
> That is a choice the original inventor should have the freedom to
> make.

Exactly, and it seems the Bristlebot inventors choose not to go further
than publishing the idea, and thereby placing it into the public domain.

Gerhard
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