"Who owns the patent on this vaccine? 'Well, the people,' I would say. There is no patent. Could you patent the sun?"
-- Jonas Salk, who died #OTD 1995
-- Jonas Salk, who died #OTD 1995
June 23, 2026 at 10:30 AM
"Who owns the patent on this vaccine? 'Well, the people,' I would say. There is no patent. Could you patent the sun?"
-- Jonas Salk, who died #OTD 1995
-- Jonas Salk, who died #OTD 1995
Jonas Salk didn't patent his 1955 polio vaccine so that it would be affordable for all people. As a result, he lost an estimated 7 billion dollars
Saying in an interview "There is no patent. Could you patent the sun?"
#jonassalk #polio #vaccines #getvaccinated #vaccinessavelives #Healthcare
Saying in an interview "There is no patent. Could you patent the sun?"
#jonassalk #polio #vaccines #getvaccinated #vaccinessavelives #Healthcare
December 14, 2024 at 2:44 PM
Jonas Salk didn't patent his 1955 polio vaccine so that it would be affordable for all people. As a result, he lost an estimated 7 billion dollars
Saying in an interview "There is no patent. Could you patent the sun?"
#jonassalk #polio #vaccines #getvaccinated #vaccinessavelives #Healthcare
Saying in an interview "There is no patent. Could you patent the sun?"
#jonassalk #polio #vaccines #getvaccinated #vaccinessavelives #Healthcare
This PlayStation patent submission will never stop being funny.
December 4, 2025 at 4:40 AM
This PlayStation patent submission will never stop being funny.
All hail the best patent drawing ever
September 19, 2025 at 1:28 AM
All hail the best patent drawing ever
i weep each time I read about the time Jonas Salk was asked if he planned to patent the Polio vaccine and asked
"would you patent the sun?!"
"would you patent the sun?!"
May 3, 2025 at 12:14 AM
i weep each time I read about the time Jonas Salk was asked if he planned to patent the Polio vaccine and asked
"would you patent the sun?!"
"would you patent the sun?!"
This is Jonas Salk (1914 - 1995) who decided not to patent his 1955 #polio #vaccine so that it would be affordable for millions of people who couldn't afford it. He lost out on an estimated $7billion. In an interview with Edward R. Murrow, Salk said: "There is no patent. Could you patent the sun?"
October 21, 2024 at 9:59 PM
Bluesky runs on open protocols with open source code. Today we’re taking an additional step and making a patent non-aggression pledge to ensure that everyone can build confidently on our work.
Learn more and read the pledge in our blog post: bsky.social/about/blog/1...
Learn more and read the pledge in our blog post: bsky.social/about/blog/1...
Bluesky's Patent Non-Aggression Pledge - Bluesky
Bluesky develops open protocols. We're taking a short and simple patent non-aggression pledge to ensure that everybody feels confident building on them.
bsky.social
October 1, 2025 at 6:03 PM
Bluesky runs on open protocols with open source code. Today we’re taking an additional step and making a patent non-aggression pledge to ensure that everyone can build confidently on our work.
Learn more and read the pledge in our blog post: bsky.social/about/blog/1...
Learn more and read the pledge in our blog post: bsky.social/about/blog/1...
Nintendo’s anti-Palworld monster-capture patent applications has been rejected by the Japanese Patent Office
“lacked an inventive step”.
gamesfray.com/japan-patent...
“lacked an inventive step”.
gamesfray.com/japan-patent...
October 29, 2025 at 5:23 PM
Nintendo’s anti-Palworld monster-capture patent applications has been rejected by the Japanese Patent Office
“lacked an inventive step”.
gamesfray.com/japan-patent...
“lacked an inventive step”.
gamesfray.com/japan-patent...
Happy polio vaccine announcement anniversary. "There is no patent. Could you patent the sun?" remains one of the hardest remarks of all time. Kind of quote every child should be taught
March 26, 2026 at 1:59 PM
Happy polio vaccine announcement anniversary. "There is no patent. Could you patent the sun?" remains one of the hardest remarks of all time. Kind of quote every child should be taught
Salk’s response when asked why he didn’t patent the polio vaccine was to respond, “can you patent the sun?”
(NB you cannot patent the sun but you can patent anything the sun shines on which is how tech ruined innovation)
(NB you cannot patent the sun but you can patent anything the sun shines on which is how tech ruined innovation)
REMINDER: A socialist act by a New Yorker was a major reason why polio was eliminated in the US.
November 5, 2025 at 12:47 AM
Salk’s response when asked why he didn’t patent the polio vaccine was to respond, “can you patent the sun?”
(NB you cannot patent the sun but you can patent anything the sun shines on which is how tech ruined innovation)
(NB you cannot patent the sun but you can patent anything the sun shines on which is how tech ruined innovation)
Patent is properly pronounced ‘patent’ and not ‘patent’
Like ‘scone’ instead of ‘scone’.
Like ‘scone’ instead of ‘scone’.
How do they pronounce patent?!
September 5, 2026 at 6:53 AM
Patent is properly pronounced ‘patent’ and not ‘patent’
Like ‘scone’ instead of ‘scone’.
Like ‘scone’ instead of ‘scone’.
Patent pledge just dropped.
Bluesky runs on open protocols with open source code. Today we’re taking an additional step and making a patent non-aggression pledge to ensure that everyone can build confidently on our work.
Learn more and read the pledge in our blog post: bsky.social/about/blog/1...
Learn more and read the pledge in our blog post: bsky.social/about/blog/1...
Bluesky's Patent Non-Aggression Pledge - Bluesky
Bluesky develops open protocols. We're taking a short and simple patent non-aggression pledge to ensure that everybody feels confident building on them.
bsky.social
October 1, 2025 at 6:04 PM
Patent pledge just dropped.
i dug up the original patent for bluesky from 2019 and what i found was chilling
May 2, 2025 at 8:08 PM
i dug up the original patent for bluesky from 2019 and what i found was chilling
Mobster government: Lutnick says US should get a taste of universities' patent revenue
Exclusive: U.S. should take a chunk of universities' patent revenue, Lutnick says
The administration wants to capture potentially tens or hundreds of billions of dollars in future upside from the work of scientists.
www.axios.com
September 10, 2025 at 2:02 PM
Mobster government: Lutnick says US should get a taste of universities' patent revenue
I teach this in my IP law class b/c when asked in an interview who owned the patent, Salk replied: "Well, the people, I would say. There is no patent. Could you patent the sun?"
He looked for vaccine solutions his entire life…including a quest for a vaccine to prevent HIV from becoming AIDS.
He looked for vaccine solutions his entire life…including a quest for a vaccine to prevent HIV from becoming AIDS.
On this day 70 years ago-May 1, 1956-the polio vaccine was first made widely available to the public. The vaccine’s developer, Dr. Jonas Salk, did not patent the vaccine so that it would remain available to as many people as possible in the US and internationally.
Image: Harvey Georges/AP.
Image: Harvey Georges/AP.
May 2, 2026 at 4:22 AM
I teach this in my IP law class b/c when asked in an interview who owned the patent, Salk replied: "Well, the people, I would say. There is no patent. Could you patent the sun?"
He looked for vaccine solutions his entire life…including a quest for a vaccine to prevent HIV from becoming AIDS.
He looked for vaccine solutions his entire life…including a quest for a vaccine to prevent HIV from becoming AIDS.
Please note that this is not a patent grant, but instead a patent application publication, a step in the patent process preceding the grant. As such, the technique is technically "in the process" of being patented, and may in fact still be rejected. I hope this is acceptable!
May 9, 2026 at 7:26 PM
Please note that this is not a patent grant, but instead a patent application publication, a step in the patent process preceding the grant. As such, the technique is technically "in the process" of being patented, and may in fact still be rejected. I hope this is acceptable!
“It doesn’t work and also can I patent it?”
Tired: Manmade child annihilating zipline beyond physics comprehension
Wired: Grok maims a man on a halfpipe then gets him fired, patent advice sought
Wired: Grok maims a man on a halfpipe then gets him fired, patent advice sought
September 23, 2026 at 3:24 AM
“It doesn’t work and also can I patent it?”
Nintendo’s new US patent has major implications for the future of games that run like dogshit.
paletteswap.site/dif...
paletteswap.site/dif...
August 22, 2026 at 7:00 PM
Nintendo’s new US patent has major implications for the future of games that run like dogshit.
paletteswap.site/dif...
paletteswap.site/dif...
One of these days, people will look back on these sports betting ads like we do on the ads for patent medicines featuring cocaine.
February 9, 2026 at 12:31 AM
One of these days, people will look back on these sports betting ads like we do on the ads for patent medicines featuring cocaine.
Zum Patent angemeldet.
March 11, 2025 at 8:39 AM
Zum Patent angemeldet.
U.S. Patent Office director has ordered a reexamination of Nintendo's controversial 'summon character and let it fight' Pokémon patent 🎮
This comes after it was heavily criticized by IP lawyers
(via IGN)
This comes after it was heavily criticized by IP lawyers
(via IGN)
November 4, 2025 at 9:46 PM
U.S. Patent Office director has ordered a reexamination of Nintendo's controversial 'summon character and let it fight' Pokémon patent 🎮
This comes after it was heavily criticized by IP lawyers
(via IGN)
This comes after it was heavily criticized by IP lawyers
(via IGN)