-----Original Message-----
From: Tim Bates <tbates@karri.bhs.mq.edu.au>
>How do you defend patent expiry if it is a right? To me, if patents are
>justified, they should last forever. Just like when you buy some land, it
>is not yours for 50 years. It is yours, period. The fact neither of us
>thinks that patents should last in perpetuity suggests that patents are
>property but are rather a state tool arrived at by trading off the
>interests of one power group against another. The losers are you, me, and
>innovative companies.
But comanies won't invest millions of dollars in RD if someone else can look at what they;ve donw and just copy them without paying them back for it.
Samael