Volume 2 Chapter 8 Matters related to patents
“Hey, kid, when are you planning to get married to Still?” Great Magician Camilla suddenly looked at Xu Yi to ask this.
“Pu——”
Xu Yi spat out the tea he had been drinking. After coughing a few times, he looked at Great Magician Camilla in shock as he said in a lost voice, “Your excellency Great Magician, you…..What are you saying?”
Great Magician Camilla gave a strong snort, “What? Is there a problem with me asking? Kid, since you have decided to be in a relationship with Still, could it be I shouldn’t ask you when you are planning to get married? Kid, are you saying that you are only planning to play with still and aren’t planning to marry her? Let me tell you, kid, anyone who isn’t planning to marriage in a relationship is a hoodlum! If you dare do this to Still, do you believe that I won’t break your legs?”
Seeing the agitated Great Magician Camilla, Xu Yi didn’t know whether to laugh or cry as he responded, “I say, your excellency Great Magician, Still and I have just started dating. Shouldn’t we understand each other a bit better before considering marriage?”
“Understand what? You two have been together for half a year, working together all day and getting together when you have nothing to do. Still’s even spent a few nights at your place, this isn’t enough?” Great Magician Camilla said in a cold voice, “Kid, stop wasting words, I am asking you this as Still’s grandfather, honestly answer my questions!”
Seeing that Great Magician Camilla didn’t seem to be kidding, Xu Yi thought about it before the helpless look on his face disappeared and he said with a serious expression, “Your excellency Great Magician, Still is an outstanding girl whether it is in terms of appearance or personality, of course I hope that she can become my wife as soon as possible. But I have to respect Still’s wishes. If she feels it isn’t suitable, I can’t just force her to agree to marry me.”
Great Magician Camilla knit his brows, “What? Still isn’t satisfied with you?”
Xu Yi replied with a bitter smile, “It isn’t like that, it’s just that she isn’t prepared for marriage this early. You should just give us some time and when the time is ripe, naturally these matters will be considered. But before this, i hope that you won’t give her too much pressure.”
Great Magician Camilla thought about this before giving a sigh. He waved his hand and said, “Forget it, this is the matter of you young people anyway, I can’t be bothered. Alright, kid, let’s talk about business. Come, first take a look at the periodical that came from the guild today.”
Taking the internal periodical from Great Magician Camilla, Xu Yi saw the large words on top and was stunned.
“Magic research is selfish?”
Usually the t.i.tle page of the Magicians Guild’s internal periodic would represent the hottest recent topic at the Magicians Guild, which would normally be related to magic research.
But while the t.i.tle of this periodical seemed related to magical research, it had quite the moral taste to it.
“What is this?” Xu Yi looked at Great Magician Camilla in surprise.
“Take a look yourself. Oh that’s right, take a look at the seventh page first.”
Xu Yi flipped to the seventh page and was even more surprised by the t.i.tle on this page.
“Magic research is a magician’s property and shouldn’t be taken lightly!”
Seeing the t.i.tle of this article, Xu Yi couldn’t help looking at the name of the author and found it was a familiar name.
Gordon Eisenkel.
Seeing this name, Xu Yi couldn’t help secretly nodding.
If it was this Great Magician who was the greediest for money, it wasn’t strange for him to say this.
As he continued reading, he found that the content of the article wasn’t as weak as the t.i.tle.
Great Magician Eisenkel kept emphasizing the great damage releasing a magician’s research results would cause the magician. It would cause magicians to gradually lose their motivation to develop new magic because even if they could develop it, it would be easily learnt by other magicians.
“Magician are also people and people are moved by benefits. If there aren’t enough benefits, why would magicians waste their energy to study new forms of magic?”
The article could be considered well founded, speaking in a convincing manner, but what surprised Xu Yi was that in the latter half of the article, Great Magician Eisenkel used the Frestech Chamber of Commerce and Xu Yi as an example.
He highly praised Xu Yi and the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, saying that the magic machines Xu Yi developed was giving magicians a new way to develop. It proved that magical application had an important and powerful role in normal lives.
But if the magic machines Xu Yi developed weren’t protected and anyone could casually copy it, Xu Yi and the Frestech Chamber of Commerce would certainly lose the motivation to develop new magic machines.
“Every time a new prospect appears, it would always stop from the guild’s propaganda of being selfless. For the longest time, the magicians of the Sines Continent haven’t moved forward and the level of magic on the continent hasn’t increased. Could it be that in this situation, we still shouldn’t change ourselves?”
At the end of the article, Great Magician Eisenkel couldn’t help speaking in an alarmist manner.
Xu Yi didn’t think that the level of magic on the Sines Continent wasn’t increasing.
Since several thousand years, although the magicians of the Sines Continent weren’t as strong as the magicians during the race was, they have continued their magical research, so it was impossible for there to be no progress at all.
After he finished reading the article and read some other parts of the periodic, he found that many of the articles published by Great Magicians were arguing this matter.
“Why did it suddenly become like this?” Xu Yi closed the periodic and asked Great Magician Camilla this in a confused manner.
“It’s very simple, it’s because the guild is prepared to pa.s.s a new decision. They are requesting all the magicians of their guild to publish it to the guild after they make any new discoveries, sharing their research with all other magicians, promoting the growth of magic on the Sines Continent.” Great Magician Camilla responded.
“d.a.m.n……The people at the Magicians Guild…..are they stupid?” Xu Yi paused before he couldn’t help cursing, “Having everyone share everything, it would be strange if anyone was willing to work. If they really pa.s.s this decision, it will cause every magician to stop their magical research and everyone would just wait for others to finish their research.”
“If this was before, I would scold you for being too selfish and not understanding the spirit of sacrifice, but now……” Great Magician Camilla revealed a bitter smile, “I have to admit that being selfish sometimes isn’t a bad thing. If you release all of the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s research, your company will instantly fall. And I wouldn’t be able to receive that much funding from your company.”
“So you’re also opposed to this decision?” Xu Yi immediately asked.
“Yes. Not only is it me and Eisenkel, most of the Great Magicians have shown clear opposition this time.” Great Magician Camilla said to Xu Yi with a smile, “So this decision shouldn’t pa.s.s. Kid, you don’t have to worry about the guild forcing you to release your research.”
“Of course, with a decision that goes against normal human thinking, it would be strange if it pa.s.sed.” Xu Yi said while laughing.
“Other than this, in response to the decision this time, Eisenkel proposed to the guild about magicians having exclusive rights to their research. The specifics are like the patents you tried to submit last time. Currently this suggestion is being discussed and it’s unknown if it will pa.s.s or not. But because of the storm caused by the other decision, there is quite a high approval for pa.s.sing this decision.”
Xu Yi’s eyes lit up, “This Great Magician Camilla really knows how to seize opportunities. But why does he hope to obtain patent rights for a magician’s research? Moreover, he even used me as an example, not even letting our Frestech Chamber of Commerce off?”
Great Magician Camilla looked at Xu Yi with a strange expression.
“Kid, being reminded by you, I suddenly feel that you and that fellow Eisenkel are quite similar. Compared to magicians, you two rather seem like merchants.”
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Without knowing if the magician’s exclusive rights to their research pa.s.sed or not, Seveni gave Xu Yi some bad news first. The Lampuri Kingdom’s Royal Parliament had rejected the patent law.
“Why?” Xu Yi looked at Seveni with knitted brows, “With this law pa.s.sed, companies that apply for patents would have to pay a certain amount each year and the kingdom’s income would increase, so why did they reject it?”
“It’s very simple, it’s because ones behind the parliament are the large n.o.bles of the kingdom. Under those n.o.bles, there are the large companies.” Seveni replied.
“Then I’m even more confused. This patent law is aimed at all the companies in the kingdom, could it be their companies don’t have unique technology, so they don’t need the protection of the patent law?” Xu Yi said in a confused voice.
Seveni took a deep look at Xu Yi and gave a soft sigh, “Chairman Xu, if I told you that the reason why this proposal was overruled was because of your Frestech Chamber of Commerce, would you believe it?”
Xu Yi looked at Seveni in surprise and after a while, he shook his head, “I don’t believe it. Our Frestech Chamber of Commerce is just a small company who has earned several hundred thousand in a year, how could those large characters care about us?”
“No, chairman Xu, you’re looking down on yourself and the Frestech Chamber of Commerce. Since you signed the order with the agricultural department for the tens of thousands of small agricultural magic machines, the Frestech Chamber of Commerce was no longer a small company.” Seveni said with a serious expression, “I think that you should know that during this time, the king has already announced that our agricultural department is cooperating with your Frestech Chamber of Commerce, so everyone in the kingdom knows about your company and knows that you have earned several million gold coins with just the agricultural magic machines. So many people are jealous and want to join the magic machine industry. You think that at this time, would they pa.s.s a patent law that would hinder them?”
Xu Yi was stunned before letting out a long breath, revealing a helpless look.
The agricultural department announcing they were cooperating with the Frestech Chamber of Commerce was something that they had discussed with him beforehand. Xu Yi did not oppose it at the time because it would greatly increase the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s fame.
He never thought that just by announcing this cooperation, it would actually attract the attention of many n.o.bles behind the large companies of the Lampuri Kingdom.
After they focused on the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, people noticed that these magic machines had infinite potential and large profits.
It wasn’t that strange if they wanted to enter this industry.
“No wonder chairman Rank would suddenly take out those blueprints, so the Sarank Chamber of Commerce already had this idea. Only how far have the other companies developed?” Xu Yi thought about it before saying to Seveni, “This means that it is now impossible for our Frestech Chamber of Commerce to safely and slowly develop in Banta City?”
“Yes.” Seveni nodded, “Chairman Xu, I must remind you that compared to some large companies, your Frestech Chamber of Commerce is very weak. If you’re not careful, it’s very likely you’ll be swallowed.”
Xu Yi nodded as he revealed a self taunting smile.
“That’s good, I have to face these compet.i.tors sooner or later. Although they came a bit earlier, since they are here, I’ll just properly take care of them. These fellows want to treat our Frestech Chamber of Commerce as a small fish to swallow, but they never would have thought that this small fish can swim faster than them and they can’t catch it at all, right?”