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heh. That's a whole different system... the patent system is fundamentally b0rked for everyone, whereas the copyright system has been rewritten for the advantage of large companies only. On 1/30/06, mark sottilaro <zerocrossing2001@yahoo.com> wrote: > Ah intellectual property wars... Thanks for the info, > I get it now. I guess it's the same process in which > something like Steamboat Willy never enters the public > domain. > > Mark > > --- jeff larson <jeff.larson@sailpoint.com> wrote: > > > From: mark sottilaro > > [mailto:zerocrossing2001@yahoo.com] > > > Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't a patent a > > > protection of an idea's implementation and not an > > > idea? > > > > Yes, that was the original intent of the patent > > system. The problem > > is that there is now widespread abuse of the system, > > especially in > > software, to patent concepts or ideas rather than > > implementations > > or processes. Hell, back in the internet glory days > > people were > > even patenting *business models*, like the concept > > of an online > > auction for plane tickets which someone thought they > > should > > "own" for the next 30 years. > > > > A great number of these patents are invalid because > > the inventions > > would be "obvious to practitioners in the field" or > > there is "prior > > art" that someone has already come up with that > > invention. But this > > doesn't matter because in order to prove either of > > these you have to > > enter into a very costly legal battle. Individuals > > and small companies > > generally just give up and make annoying changes or > > go out of business. > > > > This is a very important issue not only for software > > developers, but > > for consumers that want choices. If you want some > > background, a good > > general introduction is James Gleick's article > > originally published in > > the New York Times Magazine: > > > > http://www.around.com/patent.html > > > > For more of a scientific perspective, Jeffrey Ullman > > has an excellent > > paper here: > > > > > > http://www-db.stanford.edu/~ullman/pub/focs00.html > > > > Jeff > > > > > > > __________________________________________________ > Do You Yahoo!? > Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around > http://mail.yahoo.com > > -- /t http://ax.to ... extreme NY arts and music calendar