The patent system is supposed to get inventors to give up their secrets. If you come up with a new product, we can protect it in exchange for publishing the information.
Unfortunately this is not designed to handle new scientific discoveries. So when a business discovers a fundamental scientific advance (x-rays, for example,) things can get VERY screwy because the business can't patent x-rays. They can only patent all sorts of devices based on the discovery. Any sensible business would want to somehow keep x-rays a secret, since the discovery can't be protected by patents. Then they may or may not want to get patents on all the various x-ray devices they could sell. If a scientist discovers x-rays, he just announces it to the world. Maybe he benefits from the resulting fame, as with the discoverers of the laser. Or maybe he takes out patents and starts a company. Steorm are not behaving as scientists. (((((((((((((((((( ( ( ( ( (O) ) ) ) ) ))))))))))))))))))) William J. Beaty SCIENCE HOBBYIST website billb at amasci com http://amasci.com EE/programmer/sci-exhibits amateur science, hobby projects, sci fair Seattle, WA 425-222-5066 unusual phenomena, tesla coils, weird sci
