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By Mr. Meister (anonymous) | Posted January 23, 2009 at 12:22:36
I heartily agree with most of what you say. I never said or implied that all ideas or inventions should be patented just that the option to do so should exist. I even gave a couple of examples of companies being better off not doing so. There certainly are abuses of the system like Serafem but again we have a choice. We have the benefit of many drugs that are available today that are only available because of these patents. I'm not always in agreement with the terms or length but I shudder to think of the consequences of abolishing all patents. A great example is the new anti bacterial drugs in the pipeline. Whatever company comes out with a new effective one will make a killing but many companies have poured $billions into those projects and that would not have happened without the possibility of a big payday.
Some of the free software is truly dynamite (I wish I could get Amarok for Windows) and by your own admission is now at a par with windows. On the other hand I have yet to find anything that is as good as Norton or McAfee that I can get for free(AVG is ok but lacking). Where is the incentive for the average consumer to change? He knows and is comfortable with Windows and it does not require a new learning curve and it adds little if anything to the price of a new computer. I like free and wish more things in life were free but taking away the possibility to have a patent is counter productive.
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