[UFO Chicago] Supreme Court quote

[Jordan Bettis]

Here is the quote:
 
It was never the object of those laws to grant a monopoly for every
trifling device, every shadow of a shade of an idea, which would
naturally and spontaneously occur to any skilled mechanic or operator
in the ordinary progress of manufactures.  Such an indiscriminate
creation of exclusive privileges tends rather to obstruct than to
stimulate invention.  It creates a class of speculative schemers who
make it their business to watch the advancing wave of improvement, and
gather its foam in the form of patented monopolies, which enable them
to lay a heavy tax upon the industry of the country, without
contributing anything to the real advancement of the arts.
         -- United States Supreme Court  
            (Atlantic Works v. Brady, 1017 U.S. 192, 200 (1882))
 
Sorry about the delay, I've not had email for the past few days because
my mailserver took a road trip.
 
-- 
Jordan Bettis <http://www.hafd.org/~jordanb>
he world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who
are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it.
         -- Albert Einstein