Chapter 1101: Patent Waters Run Deep, Farming Reputation

As for patent fees, there is absolutely no need to worry.

These are collected mandatorily by the Arcane Union from every Mage Tower, regardless of whether that Mage Tower uses them or not; since the technology has been provided to you, even if you don't use it, not a single coin of the patent fee can be spared.

Although the Arcane Union does not have direct jurisdiction over its member Mage Towers, it can manipulate them in far too many ways.

To say nothing else, just the annual Mithril quota and the Permission Level for reading Nether Scrolls alone mean no Mage Tower dares to ignore the Arcane Union's regulations.

Before the Tri-Nation Mithril Treaty is completely loosened, it is difficult for Netheril to produce independently refined Mithril; if one doesn't count on the Arcane Union, could one possibly count on the Elves or the Dwarves?

This applies to Mage Towers; for individual Spellcasters, the Arcane Union does not have such strong binding power, so it simply leaves them be.

But if individual Spellcasters want to obtain patented Spells or technologies, they must join a Mage Tower to acquire them, and since Mage Towers have all been forced to pay the fees, how could they let those individuals freeload?

In reality, the vast majority of Mages in Netheril have organizations; so-called Wild Mages are actually very few and do not amount to much.

Of course, this is only for the present; in the future, after the level of Magic popularization increases, perhaps many Wild Mages will appear.

But at that time, the competitiveness of organized groups will only be stronger, and Wild Mages will amount to even less.

Regarding patents, the practices on Earth are quite similar to those here; patent fees are generally only collected from companies involved in commercial conversion, and for individual use, as long as it is not too excessive, most are also left alone.

The only difference is that the patent fees here in the Arcane Union are collected mandatorily.

Regarding this point, Xia Duo has actually always harbored doubts; mandatory collection can indeed guarantee the creator's income, but it is not very friendly to many Mage Towers that do not use the patented technology or lack sufficient financial resources.

Think about it: if a Mage Tower has no new patent registrations for a long time, the patent fees it needs to pay to other Mage Towers annually will become a huge burden.

It might even lead to the Mage Tower going bankrupt.

It wouldn't matter if one or two Mage Towers went bankrupt, but the fear is that a Mage Tower with deep foundations like the Seven Towers could force a large number of Mage Towers into bankruptcy with a single move.

Xia Duo suspects that this regulation might have been led and specified by the Seven Towers, precisely to create the conditions to launch mergers at some point in the future.

After finishing the investigation report handed over by Iolum, and taking advantage of the fact that both presidents of the Arcane Union were present, Xia Duo took the opportunity to propose that he was prepared to register a patent for this new technology capable of reducing the production costs of Magic Items.

But at the same time, he also raised some of his own questions regarding the collection of patent fees, mainly the issue of indiscriminate mandatory collection.

He is very concerned about this point; although he is a beneficiary now, who can guarantee that someone won't suddenly register a large number of patents and then use the patent fees to crush the Tower of Time in one go?

Perhaps the Seven Towers has no such intentions, but Xia Duo, coming from Earth, is exceptionally sensitive to loopholes in this regard.

Facing Xia Duo's question, Iolum shook his head repeatedly, "Lord Xia Duo, you are truly worthy of being a lord capable of being the first to conduct popular Magic education within your Territory. This angle you are considering is indeed one we have never thought of. But now that we know, it is indeed a headache!"

"Is it impossible to only collect from users?"

"Of course it's impossible!"

Iolum sighed, exchanged a glance with Kangjienio, and then said to Xia Duo: "You tell me, how do you define a user? Is it individual Spellcasting? Or the creation of a Magic Item? Or perhaps the mass sale of related Magic Items like the Tower of Time does?"

Upon hearing this, Xia Duo subconsciously wanted to say that it was of course the manufacture of large quantities of products for sale, but he immediately thought, wouldn't the person who uses patents the most fiercely be the patent owner themselves?

That is to say, the Tower of Time registers a patent, uses the patent, and pays the fee to itself—wouldn't that be registering for nothing!

And if individual Spellcasting is also defined as a user, then it involves how to confirm the use; Scrying spells can achieve this, but so can spells for Avoidance of Detection.

A spear and a shield exist simultaneously; just like Xia Duo, who almost always has an Avoidance of Detection spell on him—in this way, who could ever collect his patent fees?

This really is impossible to clarify.

If it cannot be clarified, then the patent fee cannot be collected, so would the creator still be willing to register the patent?

Sure enough, the waters here are very deep; Xia Duo feels he cannot quite grasp it, but the problem exists in reality, and if left alone, who knows when it might explode.

Thinking this way, Xia Duo said again: "Then why not establish a patent registration public notice period? This way, at least it could give the relevant Mage Towers some buffer time to think of countermeasures."

This actually has similar practices on Earth; generally, before certain important documents, appointments, or registrations take effect, there is a public notice period, during which those who object can raise opinions such as appeals, reconsiderations, or rejections.

Applied here, if the Seven Towers intended to use mass patent registration to impact small Mage Tower organizations, then Netheril's Great Arcanists are not only found in the Seven Towers.

It is estimated that soon, Mage Towers that could no longer survive would go to seek refuge with other Great Arcanists, or carry out unions between small organizations, eventually giving birth to an Alliance large enough to contend with the Seven Towers.

(It doesn't necessarily have to be becoming a Great Arcanist; as long as there are enough Advanced Rank Mages, it is sufficient to check and balance a Great Arcanist. Causing destruction everywhere is something no one can handle, and the Seven Towers is not a place where one person has the final say, but a union of multiple forces, full of concerns, so they will definitely not start a fight easily; it would mostly just be soft pressure.)

Of course, if the Seven Towers really launched such an impact, it would largely mean that the Seven Towers has enough certainty to achieve its desired goal, regardless of whether that goal is a merger or just pressure.

The cards are in others' hands, and they can play them however they want; the key is that to forge iron, one must be strong oneself.

And the fundamental purpose of Xia Duo's suggestion is not to restrict large organizations like the Seven Towers, as it couldn't be restricted anyway.

What he wants is actually a fairer and more stable competitive environment.

Such an environment, while beneficial to small organizations, is actually even more beneficial to large organizations like the Seven Towers; a fair and stable environment, or rather rules, does not mean the strong are bound.

Instead, it is the beginning of crushing by sheer scale.

Similar to the competition between large enterprises and small enterprises on Earth, the fairer it is, the harder it is for small enterprises to surpass large ones, because fairness is not reflected in the results, but in the process and within the rules.

Sometimes, in order to limit large enterprises from utilizing fair rules, those in power must specifically formulate special protection rules that favor small enterprises.

At the current stage of Netheril, talking about those special rules that favor the weak is still a bit too advanced, but at the very least, one must first create an environment that is relatively fair in terms of rules.

Such an environment is also beneficial to Xia Duo.

Additionally, if word gets out, it can also help boost some reputation.

Since the Bloodline Awakening, the need for Faith, reputation, or conviction has become greater and greater; Xia Duo especially wants to experience the feeling of freely traveling to the Outer Planes. (Already able to go to the Outer Planes, but unable to return autonomously.)

Since he has decided not to keep a low profile anymore, why not gain more reputation to improve his Bloodline Awakening level!

Xia Duo suddenly had the feeling that perhaps this was the correct way for a transmigrator to operate; fortunately, this feeling came quickly and went quickly, and after finishing his suggestion, he waited silently for Iolum's reaction.