While I do see your points about needing to have a patent for anything you put up on Kickstarter I'm not sure I agree. I read an article recently where a business raised millions on Kickstarter and then mysteriously dissolved on suspect circumstances. Crowdfunding, like any system can be abused. It's deplorable and I agree with you that if someone is stealing willfully or negligently, they should be called out for it and there should be recourse.
On the other hand, patenting can be very expensive, and for someone with a great idea and not a lot of money (maybe someone who is subsequently attracted to crowdfunding), it could be cost prohibitive until they raise some funds, so I would be weary of forcing a project to have a patent in order to be on Kickstarter.
Additionally, with the advent of patent trolling, patent law has been affected in a way that decreases the ability of an individual or business to patent their ideas.
To add to this, many projects on Kickstarter are things like movies, which you would patent.
Clearly your points are well heard in regard to stealing, and I agree there should be, and likely is something in kickstarters terms of use, but also consider that it takes the patent office months and even years to get back to you on whether a patent is truly valid and you can stake a claim. How could we fairly expect Kickstarter to validate a patent in what would have to be a way more efficient way?
It's a potentially large problem, and it's rather awesome to see that there are people like you guys who have the savvy to notice and the forthrightness to care and make mention of it.
In the spirit of this forum, shameless plug now for my Kickstarter. Check us out:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/89 ... obile-golfI look forward to hearing your guys' continued thoughts on the topic. Just thought I'd add a little bit of the old devil's advocate treatment here, as I can certainly understand scenarios where people would feel boxed out if they needed a patent.