Subject: Re: free software as a delivery vehicle for lisp From: Erik Naggum <erik@naggum.net> Date: Thu, 04 Apr 2002 10:23:13 GMT Newsgroups: comp.lang.lisp Message-ID: <3226904609253326@naggum.net> * Rahul Jain | Patenting something should _increase_ competition, unless the | invention is so far advanced that no one else in the world can think | of any improvements to it. Few people seem to understand that the purpose of a patent (which actually means "open", much to some people's surprise) is to strike a balance between making an invention public and protecting the commercial value of said invention. The whole point is to grant he who publishes the invention a reward for doing so. All the (reasonable) opposition to the patent system is based in stupid patent grants and the nearly impenetrable language in which claims are written, which is everything but patent. /// -- In a fight against something, the fight has value, victory has none. In a fight for something, the fight is a loss, victory merely relief. Post with compassion: http://home.chello.no/~xyzzy/kitten.jpg