LWN.net Logo

Advertisement

E-Commerce & credit card processing - the Open Source way!

Advertise here

Patents = government-created monopoly

Patents = government-created monopoly

Posted Apr 11, 2008 9:26 UTC (Fri) by PO8 (guest, #41661)
In reply to: Patents = government-created monopoly by dwheeler
Parent article: An opportunity to End Software Patents: ESP briefs Court in Bilski case rehearing

"Patents are essentially a bargain created by governments, granting temporary monopolies in
exchange for the development of products and documentation of ideas that would not happen
otherwise."

Historically, patents were essentially a bargain created by governments, granting temporary
monopolies in exchange for lots of money.  The conceptualization you describe occurred later.


(Log in to post comments)

Copyright © 2012, Eklektix, Inc.
Comments and public postings are copyrighted by their creators.
Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds