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> Timothy said:
> > > Slightly off topic, but a sad example of how far our patent system has
> fallen:
> > >
> > > http://news.com.com/2100-1023-885552.html
> >
> > The saddest thing is that the father invested so much effort in teaching a
> > five year-old about the patent process. What a dullard.
Rubbish. This patent can only promote innovation, as children who are too
poor and lazy to pay the swing license find other ways to have fun
(or "Spontaneous Positive Emotional Intellectual Property" as it should be called).
As children are prevented from using the swing in that way, they will find new
things to do. Who knows, in the future I bet we will find it quaint that anyone
ever swung on a swing!
Unregulated children's games are a virus which infects all the fun that children
have at playgrounds.
Speaking as an Australian, I am proud and happy that the US has this patent,
and I hope it will apply its full economic suasion on lesser countries to prevent
abuses. I believe that there are counterfeit swings in the garbage dumps where
people live in Metro Manilla, for example. Unless all money possible can be
extorted from poor countries, by us granting ourselves ownership on anything we
see first, we in the West will not be able to finance the next round of research on
what to grab next. Without unlimited, unthinking, unfeeling and strong protection
of intellectual property rights of all kinds, the sky will undoubtedly fall in.
Cheers
Rick Jelliffe
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