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Nothing kicks up debate, discussion and a "critique" of "the system" more than a group of people whose passion is inventing stuff - and when you stuff half a dozen or more of these people into a tiny studio green-room, the results are very interesting.

The first thing I discovered was that NZ's patent laws appear to be as much of a mess as those of countries such as the USA and the EU.

Now we were all stuck in a *very* hot room and lots of things were happening but I think someone even told me that it's possible for you or I to patent an New Zealand, even if it's already been patented by someone else overseas.

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If you obtained such a patent, the holder of the same patent elsewhere would have to obtain a license from *you* in order to sell products using that patent here in New Zealand.

That sure hints a cunning business model for the unscrupulous entrepreneur with a nack for identifying good ideas being used elsewhere in the world doesn't it?

Another interesting strategy in the patent world is something called "bracketing".

This is a technique whereby you paw over all the new patents that are issued daily and try to spot an invention that can be improved on.

You then register your improvement with the patent office and this means that even if the original inventor was also working on the same improvement, you win. They can't use that improvement without licensing the patent rights for it from you.

Sometimes it would appear that the sole agenda of patent offices is to earn as many patenting fees as they can, regardless of the merits or legitimacy of the applications being made.

On the other hand of course, the patent system is probably a whole lot better than it could be.

If more emphasis were put on the vetting of patents, this would push up the cost of a patent application to the point where lone inventors could no longer afford to protect their ideas.

One of those I worked with in Auckland has said he's so disappointed with the way NZ is heading in respect to business and its social agendas, that he's very likely to leave for distant shores pretty soon -- and he's not just a young guy looking for an OE, he's a well established entrepreneur who presently generates a not insignificant amount of overseas earnings for this country.

Indeed, the arguments he presented for relocating outside of New Zealand for the purposes of doing business were very strong and left me thinking.

I also had a chance to talk with Alan Gibb (of Aquada fame). Is it just coincidence that he too has left NZ for an alternative environment?

It is a great worry to me that so many of our best and brightest, seemingly regardless of age, are still considering leaving NZ, or already have.

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