Patents were originally an idea to improve the public good. They were harder to get, expired quickly, and did not apply to abstract algorithms before some court case in the 1980's.
But like any other series of complicated laws of government favoritism they have spawned an ecosystem of their own, with predators and parasites causing a tax on the system.
We seriously need reform and should banish software patents completely. - Tom Craig Birkmaier wrote:
At 8:57 PM -0700 4/2/08, John Willkie wrote:Isn't an "inventor" one who possesses or seeks to posses a patent? Isn't that a deed that permits one to extract "monopoly rents?"No.The whole purpose of patents "was" to publish the details of inventions so that society as a whole could benefit from the rapid proliferation of the technology. The whole point was NOT to restrict access or to charge monopoly rents, but to give the inventor fair compensation for the invention in exchange for a period of exclusivity.That being said, the intent of patents and the reality have turned into different things. We now see non-inventors, typically lawyers, buying and litigating patents for profit - I'm not certain GREED is the correct term for this...I prefer sleazy.It could be argued that much of the most valuable intellectual property is found in trade secrets, not patents. IN this case the companies ARE hoarding the technology for profit. Again, this may not be greed, but rather the desire to prevent others from using and/or profiting from an invention.So there is nothing greedy about patents. Regards Craig ---------------------------------------------------------------------- You can UNSUBSCRIBE from the OpenDTV list in two ways:- Using the UNSUBSCRIBE command in your user configuration settings at FreeLists.org - By sending a message to: opendtv-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word unsubscribe in the subject line.
-- Tom Barry trbarry@xxxxxxxxxxx ---------------------------------------------------------------------- You can UNSUBSCRIBE from the OpenDTV list in two ways:- Using the UNSUBSCRIBE command in your user configuration settings at FreeLists.org
- By sending a message to: opendtv-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word unsubscribe in the subject line.
