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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-CA link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Dear Max<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Heh heh. Yeah. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>I once gave a talk to a convention of Legal Executive Society members (patent lawyers) during which I mooted the elimination of the whole Patent system as one way to deal with certain issues.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>They were, of course, a bit taken aback. During the ‘thanks’ speech the Chairman noted it was the first time they had ever had a speaker who recommended the elimination of their <i>raison d-etre</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>The problem with free-to-the-people inventions is that 90% of the money (or 95%) needed to work out how to make something new into a viable product has to be paid for by someone, and recovered from sales. Others stand by waiting, spending nothing, then reproduce the final refined model. That is not fair.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>So, if it is free and unprotectable, it stays in the drawer. The experience of NASA was used for this (all inventions were public). Not they patent everything to try to find someone with $$ to work out how to bring it to market.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Regards<br>Crispin<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>+++++++</span><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;margin-bottom:12.0pt'>How about... forgetting about patents... for good ? and instead, just posting around, copyrighted for freeware, to as many people and companies to see who might be interested, as possible ? Then, let herdfunding, "getitdone" etc. take care of making prototypes and company project starts of them ? or... let interested tinkerers who think they need/want just the thing you depicted, to build, test and document as much as they like ?<br><br>Like A.C.Clarke... did he not use his literary abilities (and mighty cranium) to make his inventions into novels instead, for distribution of methods and monetary return... never having to bother (much ?) with patentings and patent lawsuits then ?<br><br><br>MaxT<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></body></html>