I am watching the software patent issue with grim depression . For the moment the motives of IBM are indeterminate of effect .
And my personal feeling is that patents inherently hatch anti-social feedbacks . Rewarding the few who can jump thru hoops . Seldom enriching other than the entrenched capital vultures. Punishing the mundane with inflationary oligarchy. Feeding all that festers in such manure . Rewards for works can be accomplished in ways less conducive to evil . It's just a bit of a mental reach . The conventional wisdoms on patents are often disconnected from reality . Enumerating the realities would be way OT compared to posting a link .
http://www.tinaja.com/patnt01.asp
Don Lancaster has a good track record of results . You could do well by learning from his writings .
Oren Beck
" I've been watching the rollbacks- not Wal-marts, But the roll back of our civil liberties. Will they roll back to 1788 ? "