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> Patents are monopolies.  They monopolize all of the knowledge, 
informaton 
> and technology in the same way that the feudal estates monopolized all 
of 
> the factors of production.   Patents recreate the feudal system. 

The fundamental difference is that patents have limited lifetime, and have 
generally (perhaps even universally?) been designed as a trade-off.  For 
example, as one legal document puts it, the goal is "[t]o promote the 
Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to 
Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and 
Discoveries."

You might find this link useful, although it's US-centric:
  http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data/constitution/article01/39.html#1

Followups to /dev/null, as we used to say.

        /r$

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