Because the system can quickly react to subtle changes in sunlight, it maximizes the utility of solar energy, producing large quantities of clean water despite variations in sunlight throughout the day. In contrast to other solar-driven desalination designs, the MIT system requires no extra batteries for energy storage, nor a supplemental power supply, such as from the grid.
If you want everyone to have it, you patent, then charge nothing to license it.
If you don't patent it, then a corporate patent troll will come in, patent it, charge an inordinate amount for the license, then bury you in paperwork with a lawsuit so you can't fight back. Effectively killing the tech.
You copyright it (free) and publish online with a copyleft license.
You would absolutely win in court without the patent. Just point to the publishing date on GitHub. Then you sue them for filing a blatantly fraudulent patent.
Says someone whos never blocked an assassin's ninja star with a binder full of patent paperwork. There was also some incorporation stuff in there, but not enough to have worked with that alone.
sometimes you want some sort of control, or trade… like, (as much as like everyone else hates them this is the best example i can think of) tesla holds a bunch of patents and says people are free to use them, but if you do you can’t sue them for patent infringement: they still have some control