> Also, if someone patents a log fire(for the sake of argument) it's still
ok
> to build a log fire, just not to sell it. If people had to pay royalties
> every time they built their own log fire, this would be quite ridiculous.
> Perhaps you will recall the incident with a company patenting the strain
of
> rice that a massive portion of some country(I can't recall which,
somewhere
> around India methinks) and then telling the inhabitants that they were no
> longer allowed to make their living from it.
Never mind that. Some company (I think it was Monsanto) developed a
particular strain of wheat. They then went and sued a farmer because
genetic information from their wheat strain ended up in his crop, through
pollination caused by wind. Kind of silly, if you ask me. The company
should have taken wind-born pollen, and the fact that no-one can do anything
about it, into consideration. I'm sure the farmer in question was
completely innocent of wheat piracy.
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