Patents in Formula 1

[Sambo]

Hi guys,

I was reading an article the other day about patents and how it is so indented into the technology we use today and certain law suits when that is copied, so it got me thinking as Formula 1 is such a technology based sport thats driven by invovation, I'm surprised that i havent heard of a team patenting a certain technology. So i was wondering does it really exist? and if not, why not?

Please feel free to to put me straight on this. Im sure the members in this forum that know more than me could shed some light, and any information would be greatly appreciated

Many thnanks!

[aleks_ader]

How you dint heard that... just for exaple the best team which last decate have pourpuse to sell own tehnology (patents) is Williams

Patent: Flywheel enery storage system

[Lycoming]

http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2012/01/p ... explained/ explains it all.

To summarize, a patent would cause an unfair frozen in advantage for one team, and thus would very likely be immediately banned by the FIA. Instead of patents, teams gamble that by being the first with a new idea, they can develop it better and make it work better than the other teams.

[Himlar]

Interesting, I always thought that the problem would be that they would be "useless"; if I remember correctly patents often do not apply to non-commercial applications (you can make a duplicate of a patented product for yourself, but obviously not sell it) and that F1 would fall under that. In that case, the only effect would be giving your opponents full knowledge of the intellectual property behind the technology, making it easy to duplicate and implement.

[Sambo]

http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2012/01/p ... explained/ explains it all.

To summarize, a patent would cause an unfair frozen in advantage for one team, and thus would very likely be immediately banned by the FIA. Instead of patents, teams gamble that by being the first with a new idea, they can develop it better and make it work better than the other teams.

Ahh ok, so the main reason its not put in place is all to do with the holder of the patent will have an unfair advantage. It seems obvious now....Appologies for the kind of studid question

Many thanks for the insight

[gato azul]

It has also something to do with the fact, that patents are mainly to protect ideas, to be comercial exploited. But as F1 cars don´t normally get sold, it´s a bit difficult to enforce a patent infringement, without a commercial case.
It´s like if you copy a Iphone for yourself. The problem starts, when you start selling it.
Patents are generally not such a big deal in motor racing as far as teams are concerned.
There are some patents from suppliers, because they sell there stuff comercially, like damper companies, holding some patents etc.
Notice that Penske, licensed some of the "mechanical inerter" stuff from Prof. Malcolm C Smith, because they want to sell it with their dampers, but many teams use inerters based on the same principles too, without legal issues.

[bhall]

I'll put it this way: Himlar and gato azul seem to have a better grasp on the subject than James Allen.