On 5 December 2011 14:34, Eric Lease Morgan <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > IMHO, the idea of intellectual "property" on things that can be duplicated without any sort of degradation -- like software -- is absolutely absurd and bogus. --Eric Morgan No argument there. But arguably even worse is that independent reinvention is no defence when it comes to patent infringement. Which is crazy, since 90% of what a typical programmer does during a day IS independent reinvention of techniques. -- Mike.