Friends of ours were displaying their art at Artomatic in Alexandria, VA; and last night was the artist's opening night, which we got invited to. Lots of colourful and beautiful work on display. Very sumptuous visually. We met a fellow who told us that the building used to be the US Patent Office or archives, and when the Patent Office moved it threw out all the old patent documents. (more)
Patents have gone berserk in the last twenty years, the
USPTO
has allowed business model patents, software patents, and even just methodology patents. It has made a mess and mockery of the patent process, to the point where patents are an inhibition to innovation, and instead are used for extortion, and monopoly.
(more)
