Re: Patents [was Re: GPS implants are here... NOT...]

From: Lee Daniel Crocker (lcrocker@mercury.colossus.net)
Date: Tue Dec 21 1999 - 15:57:19 MST


> I have to agree with Robert on this; if you stay out of the patent
> game, you will get run over by the competition in many industries.

Yes, I agreed with that as well. I'm just trying get rid of the
game entirely. A business that currently takes out patents is
like a farmer that takes price supports; even if ey agreed that
they were a bad idea, if ey refused them while eir neighbor didn't,
ey'd go broke very quickly. I can't overly blame someone for
taking a short-term view when eir own wallet is concerned. I
certainly don't go out of my way to tell my company that I don't
think they should copyright the software I write for them, so I'm
not entirely blameless either (although I have released everything
I've ever written for publication into the public domain, and the
software I write for my employer is only for internal use, so I'm
not a very big part of the problem). But just because one might
presently benefit from the system that shouldn't prevent one from
imagining what the world might be like without it.

--
Lee Daniel Crocker <lee@piclab.com> <http://www.piclab.com/lcrocker.html>
"All inventions or works of authorship original to me, herein and past,
are placed irrevocably in the public domain, and may be used or modified
for any purpose, without permission, attribution, or notification."--LDC


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