<a href="http://blogs.computerworlduk.com/open-enterprise/2011/07/why-we-should---and-can---abolish-all-patents/index.htm">http://blogs.computerworlduk.com/open-enterprise/2011/07/why-we-should---and-can---abolish-all-patents/index.htm</a><br>
<br>Dear chris, I wanted to excerpt from the above, but copy-paste doesn&#39;t work here ...<br><br>can you publish the excerpt starting at (just under slide show)<br><br>Patents date back to the 15th century, when they were issued by the 
English monarch as “letters patent” - “patent” because they were open 
for all to see, rather than sealed.  Despite their royal provenance, 
they were essentially instruments of piracy: they were used to “steal” 
knowledge from other lands by offering a 20-year monopoly in England to 
the person bringing that knowledge into the country.<br><br>UNTIL<br><br>one-before-last paragraph above the nathan m. quote ...<br><br>thanks Chris!!<br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>P2P Foundation: <a href="http://p2pfoundation.net" target="_blank">http://p2pfoundation.net</a>  - <a href="http://blog.p2pfoundation.net" target="_blank">http://blog.p2pfoundation.net</a> <br>
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