On Sun, Nov 16, 2003, Nadav Har'El wrote about "Re: [OT???]Re: protecting one's IP
[CLOSED TOPIC]":
> Check out your favorite dictionary or encyclopedia what a "patent" means,
> or at least what it was supposed to mean before unscrupulous companies
> started using it to destroy the free market.
>...
Apparently, even the US government's own FTC (Federal Trade Commission) is
disappointed by the way that certain questionable patents have been used
recently to stop competition, create monopolies, and harm innovation -
things that patent system was never meant to cause.
They published last month a report titled "To Promote Innovation: The Proper
Balance of Competition and Patent Law and Policy", which you can find in
http://www.ftc.gov/os/2003/10/innovationrpt.pdf
The report is pretty long (315 pages), but starts with an 18 page "executive
summary" which is pretty easy to read. The British "Foundation for a Free
Information Infrastructure" published a collection of extracts from this
report, which you can find in
http://www.ffii.org.uk/ftc/ftc.html
--
Nadav Har'El | Monday, Nov 17 2003, 22 Heshvan 5764
[EMAIL PROTECTED] |-----------------------------------------
Phone: +972-53-790466, ICQ 13349191 |He who dies with the most toys is still
http://nadav.harel.org.il |dead -- Citibank billboard, Manhattan 2001
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