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    SubjectRe: Article: IBM wants to "clean up the license" of Linux
        Does IBM
    deserve a patent that a high-schooler can reinvent?

    The US Constitution and the US legal system have an interesting view
    of the question--and it isn't what most people think it is. Their
    view is that patents don't exist for the sake of patent owners. The
    official reason for patents in the US is "to promote progress."

    So it isn't even relevant to ask, "Does IBM deserve a patent."
    Instead, the question is, "Did giving IBM that patent promote
    progress?" If high-school students are going to find the same
    "invention" on their own, the answer is probably no.

    But one can say more than that. There is no sign that progress in
    software is any faster today than it was in 1980, before there were
    patents in the field of software. This suggests that software patents
    in general fail to promote progress, and that patents should be
    eliminated from the software field.



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