Chapter 152: 153

Duke Alto von Bayen was walking in the royal castle. His destination is a barely-functioning government department rarely visited by anyone.

“I’m coming in,” Alto said, without knocking or greeting.

“Ah…? Yo-Your Grace Bayen! What do you need in a place like this?” the employee inside said as he quickly stood up and bowed.

“You and I are on good terms,” Alto said. “Don’t be so afraid, Lord Herlitz.”

“Yes! Thank you very much!” Herlitz said.

Alto had visited Ploiss’ Patent Office, and the employee before him was Viscount Hermann Herlitz.

In the Earth Flora knew, the Patent System was established in the 15th century. Immediately after, laws and systems were developed to the extent that they are almost the same as their modern forms. The purpose was to protect the rights of inventors of new technologies and at the same time to make them widely available to the public, which greatly contributed to later technological developments.

A similar system exists in the Kingdom of Ploiss. However, unlike the patent system on Earth, this one has a number of fatal flaws.

First of all, as is the same on Earth, the inventors and rights holders are not necessarily the same. For example, even if you develop something, if a completely different person who was not involved in it registers it without permission, the name on the registration will be guaranteed. This is also a very controversial issue on Earth.

Whether it is a patent, a trademark, or a right-to-use, the first to register wins, regardless of whether they have contributed to the research at all or had nothing to do with it in the first place. Especially in the modern world where the economy is multilateral, even if you register first in your own country, if an unrelated person in another country registers without permission, even your rights may be taken away. 1

These are problems in the system itself, but no one tries to fix it. In particular, there are cases involving multiple countries, so if your patent is registered by someone else without your permission in an entirely different country, they may have to pay the patent royalties to you. Despite this, there have been cases where Japanese patent holders struggled to negotiate with foreign nations and could only silently cry themselves to sleep as their inventions and rights are stolen.

It’s the same thing in the Kingdom of Ploiss, and it doesn’t matter who invented it first, or whether that person actually did the research or the invention. Whoever registers first wins anyway.

And the second problem is that humans run it. Accepting and deliberating is done by humans, and even if someone registered it first, or even if they actually developed the product or service in question, the authority can decide to change the facts as they please.

For example, even if a researcher in another country developed the product and registered the patent in that country, in some other state, they could say, “An application was submitted earlier in our country, therefore we will not recognize your rights and instead recognize ours.”

Furthermore, in this aristocratic society, high-ranking aristocrats of Ploiss can arbitrarily claim that it is their invention and pressure the officials to register it under their names.

Of course, in Ploiss, unlike on Earth, even if someone who had no connection or involvement applied for stolen rights, they would not be registered. If someone who doesn’t even know how the basics of cooking try to register something related to cooking, they will be criticized, “You haven’t even cooked before, have you?”

But, for example, if you reveal it first in front of a large number of witnesses, that’s another matter entirely. If the witnesses testify that “That person revealed it to us first before the public.”, they would be recognized as the rights holder.

And there is a big difference between the patent system on Earth and the patent system in the Kingdom of Ploiss. In the patent system of Earth, the content is made public and the rights of the registrant are guaranteed for a certain period of time, but the content itself can be used by anyone. It is also a system for disseminating technology, and anyone can view and use it as long as it does not infringe on the registrant’s rights. However, when using them for commercial purposes, fees need to be paid to the registrant to protect their patent.

In contrast, the contents of Ploiss’s patent system are not made public. If you want to use whatever is registered, you have to negotiate and make a contract by paying money to the registrant. Only those who have signed a contract can use its contents.

In other words, under the system of the Prussian Kingdom, as long as certain conditions are met, completely unrelated aristocrats can arbitrarily register other people’s inventions as their own, and have others pay royalties to them when they want to sell or use them, it is a system that you could call “pay to win.” However, even with the Patent Office still being empty without any other clients, it’s not that easy.

First of all, it is very difficult to control. Even if the patent registrant has infringed upon, or someone else has infringed on someone’s patent, they never receive the news it has happened.

Even if someone registered an amazing patent in the royal capital of Berne, even if the same thing was sold in a completely unrelated local city far away, the chances of that information making back would be extremely low. It’s unlikely that you’ll find it unless it’s something that’s so rare that rumors spread throughout the country.

And if someone is found to be violating one’s rights, it is difficult to catch them or force them to pay royalties. Even if you tried to force the royalties, they didn’t know how much they actually sold and how much profit they made. That’s why they negotiate and sign a contract during the first disclosure of a patent’s contents.

Can you use it freely after paying a certain amount? Do you pay royalties as a percentage of sales? If you pay by the percentage of sales, how do you check the sales and profit? Discuss them and make a contract first.

Therefore, even if it turns out that they have been infringed when evidence can’t be determined after the fact, how can they be compensated for damages?

Of course, it would be fine if a certain amount of money was paid as reparations regardless of sales or profits, but in no world can you just wave a sleeve without an arm inside it. If the other party can’t pay when you demand an unreasonable amount of damages, even if you legally saddle them with reparations, if they can’t pay, it doesn’t matter in the end.

However, this does not mean that the system has no meaning or utility. Depending on how it is used, it can transform something like a goose that lays golden eggs.

This time, all the ingredients are here. It would have been difficult to find out if a completely unrelated firm in a distant local city was selling it on its own, but this time the other party is also in the royal capital and is selling as-is. They probably won’t abandon the store and run away now, and if they can continue their business just by offering a portion of their profits to Bayen, most companies will do so.

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It is more profitable for the company to pay a portion of the profit and settle peacefully than drag it into a fight with the nobles and get into legal trouble. Above all, creating a profitable relationship here also means that you can get the backing of that noble. If the company goes into the red thanks to the nobles’ plundering, the nobles will lose their advantage. Therefore, Bayen just needs to make the cut less painful than the time and effort they need to put in to defend their claim, in order to secure the firm’s cooperation.

Of course, there are times when the aristocrats who are backing them withdraw after looking at the effort and the partner. It’s only natural they’d do so since this relationship was all about profit, after all, and cost/benefit.

Pudding was unveiled in front of many nobles at Helene’s evening party. So even if Duke Bayen claims the right to pudding without evidence, most of the nobles will agree it’s his. Also, he can imagine that the company that runs the crepe cafe will be making a considerable amount of sales in the royal capital. There is no doubt that it is better to pay protection money to Duke Bayen rather than abandon the royal capital and flee legal prosecution.

He also received information that the company started selling pudding the other day. In that case, it is necessary to register the right with the Patent Office as soon as possible and have the company in question pay the royalties.

This Patent Office is barely functioning. Few people apply for patents, and even if they do, they are rarely protected. Therefore, it fell into a vicious circle where no one uses it because it doesn’t work, and because it doesn’t work, no one uses it, and now it is a nameless department with almost no one it services. Only Viscount Hermann Herlitz and several of his subordinates are assigned to such a government office.

Viscount Hermann is not included in Duke Bayen’s Faction, but he has a history of cooperating with Duke Bayen to somehow be invited into the group. There is no way a man like Hermann would refuse Alto’s request.

“Actually, I want you to register a dish that our family has newly developed,” Alto said.

“So I see!” Hermann said. “Then, let’s get the documentation ready. What is the name of this dish and how is it made?” he says with a sales smile.

If Alto followed the normal registration procedure here, there would have been no problems. Hermann was just doing what he was supposed to do. However…….

“The name of the dish is Pudding. Unfortunately, I don’t know the recipe,” Alto said.

“… Huh? Umm… then…?” Hermann said.

As he looked up from the form he was about to fill in and lost his smiles smile, Hermann thought to himself, “Not again.”

“And I came to register a week ago,” Alto said. “Are we clear?”

“…… Yes,” Hermann said.

He knows without even having it explained. Most of the users of the Patent Office are aristocrats. Merchants rarely use the Patent Office. This is because there is little to gain from having to go through extra procedures and register the process. In that case, it would be better to keep the manufacturing method secret, and then manufacture and sell only in your territory to increase your profits.

But the nobility is different. They take away other people’s inventions and research, register them without basis, and demand that the developers and sellers of those inventions pay the royalties because they are infringing on the noble’s rights. In order to do so, some conditions must be set in place. Among them, the most important item is that you register the manufacturing method and that you register it before the other party.

Of course, it is meaningless if the other party has already registered first. Therefore, it is necessary to complete the registration before the inventor registers or sells them as objective evidence that they were first. In this case, Alto decided that House Bayen would have registered pudding earlier than Helene’s evening party and claimed it was only unveiled then. So, the date on the form had to be before then.

In addition, the manufacturing method should be registered, but the manufacturing method is only disclosed to the contractors Christiane hired. In fact, even if the manufacturing method is not registered at all, there is no way for anyone else to confirm it. Later, after the manufacturing method is discovered, Alto can have it added then.

The date of registration, the manufacturing method, everything can be done with the staff, that is, Hermann’s collusion with the conspiracy. That’s why Hermann is under several nobles who come to register like this from time to time to steal others’ rights from them. And Hermann himself has no power to resist.

Originally, the Kingdom guaranteed the rights of its workers, but in reality, it meant nothing. Even if the nobles can’t do anything in public, they can threaten Hermann, his subordinates, and their families behind the scenes, bribe them with money or goods, and if they oppose the nobles, they can have them tossed out of aristocratic society and isolated from making any new connections. If you follow them, you will get rewarded. Then there is only one option for these officials to take:

“Umm… so, Duke Bayen… I’ll do it right away…” Hermann said.

“Oh, excellent work,” Alto said. “I will consider letting you join my faction.”

“Ah… we-well, is that so…? Thank you very much…” Hermann said, his shoulders jumping up in anticipation before they slumped again.

He knew that Alto had no intention of letting Hermann join his faction just by the wording of his answer. Hermann has not been accepted into any faction. As you can see from his being appointed to such a terrible office, he does not have an excellent reputation. And it’s a tough job, besides.

Certainly, there are many aristocrats who want to abuse the Patent Office and the patent system. That’s why it’s certainly convenient to have Hermann on your side.

But in reality, this rarely happens. Alto has only counted the number of times he has done this kind of conspiracy at the Patent Office. It’s not worth the risk of keeping Hermann on his side.

If Hermann were to join a faction on his own, other factions would say that group was “abusing the privilege of the Patent Office.” If you are a nobleman, most people know about the royalties fraud through collusion with the Patent Office. That’s why if you blatantly put Hermann into your faction, you’ll naturally be suspected of such. Hence, no one lets Hermann join.

Alto leaves the Patent Office in a good mood, leaving Hermann with his shoulders slumped and accepting he won’t be getting into anyone’s factions this time. Now everything is in order, in his mind. All that was left for Alto to do was summon the company and condemn them in court.

Footnotes

There is a fascinating effect to this in the modern day, such as the infamous nature of Chinese knock-off products, and even wholesale ripoffs of intellectual property such as games. What would be a clear-cut prosecution in the original country is much more ambiguous or not as swiftly dealt with in another.

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