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Right ive been wondering so the mechanicum have like patents and stuff? do they provide warrantees for their goods?

and then i thought... what else happens because there are hundreds of forge worlds all producing bits and pieces but they have to get there money from somewhere dont they? what if anothing planet made it cheaper? boom... out of business planet implodes!!

anyway thoughts and wahtnot

Aren't the tech priests like monks? Working because it's their religious duty?

And the workers are mostly serfs I think, paid with rations and housing.

You have no warranty on AdMech goods because it would be a paperwork nightmare to even begin to pursue it. The Forge World that made your lasgun could be on the other side of the galaxy by the time it breaks.

Usually you want to see a tech priest to get your gak repaired. As for competition... The thing about the AdMech is that their stuff is not only high quality but they can mass produce it easier. They also are the ones who control the distribution of blueprints to private manufacturers.

 TheCustomLime wrote:
The thing about the AdMech is that their stuff is not only high quality but they can mass produce it easier. They also are the ones who control the distribution of blueprints to private manufacturers.

But do note the "private manufacturer" bit - the AdMech will happily license planetary factories to churn out the less esoteric stuff like lasguns and tanks. It leaves them more time to concentrate on more important things, like replicating or reverse-engineering lost technological know-how and studying xenotech for possibilities.

No, it would be very unlikely there would be any patent process for anything an individual invented. You invent a cool new toaster(using sanctioned parts of course) nothing is protecting you from someone ripping you off.

Now if you are licensed by the Ad Mech to make a particular item then you would likely have protection, in that only licensed people can make that thing. Someone else might get the license too, but that is hardly in your right to object.

Also just a note.. this is 30-40k so it isnt just the admech. anyone read the book mechanicum? if so you may know about the Noosphere (not really a spoiler). Anyway that was developed by one adapt what if another adept wanted to copy it? what is stopping them?

 MrBlackledge wrote:
Right ive been wondering so the mechanicum have like patents and stuff? do they provide warrantees for their goods?

and then i thought... what else happens because there are hundreds of forge worlds all producing bits and pieces but they have to get there money from somewhere dont they? what if anothing planet made it cheaper? boom... out of business planet implodes!!

anyway thoughts and wahtnot

The Mechanicus has a functional monopoly on high skill STEM work (well not the medicine part) and is functionally more of a closely allied country than a part of the Imperium. They can do what they want economically. As for copyright, the Mechanicus is run like a combination of Medieval Guilds, Very prestigious universities and research stations, and a complex religion; I expect that there's some form of accreditation, but that the Mechanicus as a whole devotes it's works to the Omnissiah rather than to the profit motive that drives present day corporations.

Keep in mind that the whole idea of modern patents, as least as the term is defined in US law in the 19th century, was for the purpose of promoting the useful arts and sciences. The idea was to encourage people do document their technology, how to produce it, and publish their findings in return for many years of exclusive production and sales rights. E.g. tell everyone how to make something useful, and you can have a monopoly for several years and get filthy rich if you work hard.

There is little to nothing in the Imperium of Man for promoting the useful arts and sciences. A much better comparison would be the economic model present in Medieval Europe. E.g. making a profit from technology (and recouping the costs of all the research you do) is critically dependent on keeping the means of production secret, so others cannot undercut you by producing the finished product without having to pay the research costs.

This was a time of extreme technological stagnation. Even brilliant inventions were hoarded by small producers or guilds, and when the producers died or went out of business, the technology was lost with them. Furthermore, if you build a more complex technology, you would not have access to the wide array of expired patents that are critical for solving common industrial problems.

So to address your original question, if a planet had the sole market of a particular technology, and a better STC were discovered on another Forgeworld, it would be a serious threat to the original Forgeworld. This could result in serious conflict which may or may not be settled with black-mail, intrigue, and violence. And when the dust settles, many outcomes may result. The two forgeworlds may enter into a Cartel to keep prices high, one may dominate the other, sabotage may destroy one or the other's production capability, or one planet may decide to produce another badly desired technology for the Imperium from another STC template.

Demand outstrips supply in most cases for the Imperium, anyways, doesn't it? Competition is probably the least of an ad-mech's worries. I vaguely recall it coming up every once in a while with forge world rivalries, but it comes up so rarely (if at all. My memory could be wrong) that it's likely a non-factor for whatever reason. One of those reasons possibly being most areas only have one forge world supplying them in the first place from what I can tell (again, my memory could be off)

This is an economical system where human life is often worth less than the machines they use, after all.

It's also notable that anything "new" that is invented needs to get the okay from the mechanicus or else it's heretical. The Land Raider Redeemer (at least, I think it was the redeemer? Maybe crusader? It was a variant of land raider for sure)took centuries to get approval (not that the Astartes cared. They used the thing anyways, but most other people wouldn't have the political heft that the astartes do)

Another tank (I forget which one. At least, I think it was a tank) didn't get approval until long after its main inventor had passed away.

if so you may know about the Noosphere (not really a spoiler). Anyway that was developed by one adapt what if another adept wanted to copy it? what is stopping them?

No, it wasn't.

The noosphere, in the way the term is used in 40K, is the entire range of senses, combined with and linked to the Machine Spirit and the human intelligence of the Princeps, that drives a Titan.

So it is the Titan's various auspex sensors, its radar, its radio-communications network, its tactical data feed from its targeters, its data feed from the other Titans in its maniple, its weapon range-finders, the data feed between it and orbiting space craft that provide it with top-down topographical/geological and weather data, its data-analysis cogitators that sift through the data it receives from all of its auspex systems, and is then fed to and combined with the training and knowledge of its Princeps, who makes use of this torrent of data that feeds into his/her mind, makes decisions based on that data, and directs the Titan, and its support Titans, into action.

The Noosphere is something that already exists in the real world, it's a conceptual thing, not something you can hold in your hands, but what it is defined as is extended to machine/human intelligence combinations in the 40K setting.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noosphere

i was talking about HH noosphere... developed by adept koriel zeth says so in mechanicum

The mechanicum has patents to everything. It licenses them out for favors and resources.

 MrBlackledge wrote:
Also just a note.. this is 30-40k so it isnt just the admech. anyone read the book mechanicum? if so you may know about the Noosphere (not really a spoiler). Anyway that was developed by one adapt what if another adept wanted to copy it? what is stopping them?

In the case of the Noosphere, it isn't really something that one person can own so, all the Mechanicus Adepts are invariably noospherically enabled so that they can communicate with each other incredibly quickly.

In more general terms then the Mechanicus doesn't really need money, they are not a corporation or business, they are a religious sect that venerates technology. Manufacturing machinery is, for them, a religious observance. As such, much of what is invented by the Mechanicus is really a re-discovery of existing technology and this is the main focus on what the Mechanicus does, their Quest for Knowledge. A real world equivalent would be someone who searched for pieces of Christ's Cross for example. Of course, just as with relics in the real world, the Mechanicus also has its own politics and factionalism, so that certain technologies can only be produced on certain Forgeworlds; Ryza for example is known for its plasma weapon technology. Going back to your question, if an individual adept tried to steal a piece of technology it would be like trying to steal a holy relic from a cathedral and censure would swiftly follow any such attempts if it were even feasible or necessary to attempt such a theft in the first place. If the adept (and their Forgeworld most likely by extension) had access to the STC or other blueprints in order to create certain technologies then they would be perfectly at liberty to do so.

The Mechanicus does license other bodies to create technologies but beyond saying 'the give licenses' there is very little material available to describe how this comes about or what the Mechanicus expect from a licensee or what control they exert during the manufacturing process. As an example, on Necromunda all the Houses are able to produce various technologies such as weapons. The Van Saars produce the best quality material but this is merely because they make things well and not because they are more advanced et cetera. What relationship the Mechanicus has with these various Houses and their manufacturing base is not covered although presumably they are 'licensed'.

 Melissia wrote:
The mechanicum has patents to everything. It licenses them out for favors and resources.

heh heh. "Favors".

"How badly do you really need those additional Executioners, Lord General?"

 MrBlackledge wrote:
Right ive been wondering so the mechanicum have like patents and stuff? do they provide warrantees for their goods?

and then i thought... what else happens because there are hundreds of forge worlds all producing bits and pieces but they have to get there money from somewhere dont they? what if anothing planet made it cheaper? boom... out of business planet implodes!!

anyway thoughts and wahtnot

I don't think the AdMech and the IoM are capitalist societies. Making or researching or even repairing technology without permission from the AdMech is heresy.
Any technology not from an STC is heresy, and the AdMech controlls all STCs. The AdMech has a monopoly on technological knowledge, and trying to undermine that makes you a heretek.