[E. Pluribus Unum]

Is anybody out there in Washington starting to realize that copyrights and patents are just a thinly-disguised mechanism for a few cartels of lawyers to own everything, and that if this is allowed to continue the advancement of technology will be completely thwarted, except in China where they pay no attention to such nonsense anyway?

[NotQuiteCricket]

umn. Probably not. Patents are important. I'm just not sure about patents for software, or business processes. A patent on a thing and the way that thing works I can get behind, but software? Hum. Why can't I patent a plot line then? (ignoring prior art)

[WHBates]

Just try to even getting within a thousand miles of and MSFT patent and see what happens to you. What goes around comes around.

[webstersII]

"Is anybody out there in Washington starting to realize that copyrights and patents are just a thinly-disguised mechanism for a few cartels of lawyers to own everything, and that if this is allowed to continue the advancement of technology will be completely thwarted, except in China where they pay no attention to such nonsense anyway?"

The Founding Fathers didn't think so.

Of course the whole issue has gotten out of hand with the dramatic extensions of the time lengths for copyright but the original idea still has merit.