From srctran@world.std.com  Fri Dec 22 22:26:21 2000
Date: Fri, 22 Dec 2000 17:26:21 -0500 (EST)
From: Gregory Aharonian srctran@world.std.com
Subject: [Patents] Re:  patent pools enforcing per-copy-licensing mode of
 software development

>Hartmut writes:
>Why universities in the first place, if they are not to foster free
>diffusion of information that benefits all of society?

So I assume Hartmut, that you don't want universities patenting 
anything - no biotech patents, no software patents, no hardware patents?

>Why not instead let IBM and Microsoft do the work of universities?

Increasingly they might control everything, as people with new software
and hardware ideas see all the profits and commercialization captured
by IBM and Microsoft, whose entrenched clout makes it difficult to
compete for startups and individuals.  Unless they have some effective
protection, like a patent.  But if preserving the power and clout of
large companies like IBM and Microsoft has been your goal all along, I
withdraw this observation.

Greg Aharonian




