Jim Wedd wrote:
> In the US, patent duration is 17 years.
> During that time the patent holder can collect license fees.
> http://www.patentlens.net/daisy/patentlens/261.html
>
> Copyrights have much longer lives.
> Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act of
> 1998<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonny_Bono_Copyright_Term_Extension_Act>
> - extended terms to 95/120 years or life plus 70 years.
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_copyright_law
>
> Somehow it doesn't seem right that a patent on something as useful as, say,
> transistors only offers revenue to the inventors for 17 years while the
> copyright of a song could bring profit to the copyright holder for very much
> longer.
>
> But who believes that Congress ever makes things fair?
>


Shhhhhh!! That's what the patent holders are saying to
Congress even as we discuss this. Only they're not doing
what many of us would wish, asking Congress to shorten
copyrights to be more equitable with patents.

They're asking that patents be extended so they can milk the
public with artificially high prices for even longer!

It's a case of "be careful what you wish for" when
discussing the inequities between patents and copyrights.

--
David H. Bailey
dhbailey@...