Subj : Re: Software Patents
To   : comp.programming
From : Gerry Quinn
Date : Thu Jul 14 2005 11:21 am

In article <dauh3m$ou6$1@news1nwk.SFbay.Sun.COM>, 
samiamsansspam@Sun.COM says...

> The system is not without harm. The patent on the steam engine retarded
> industry so much in brittian that it essentially became a technological
> backwater to America.

Historians will be surprised at your analysis of technology trends in 
Britain and the US.

The first steam engine was patented in 1698 by Thomas Savery.  In 1712 
Newcomen produced a new version, and went into partnership with Savery.  
In 1769, James Watt patented a vastly improved version of the 
technology.  

Britain was the centre of the Industrial Revolution (c1750-1850).  It 
only began to lose technological pre-eminence to Germany and the US in 
the second half of the nineteenth century, long after the patents on 
the steam engine had run out.

The patent system in this case was associated with success, not 
failure.  It seems clear that the steam engine pioneers and their 
backers were considerably motivated by it.

- Gerry Quinn

.