What happened to innocent until proven guilty?

I didn't think that you had to apply for copyright - it's automatic.

An abandonware law would be nice - we could get hold of the source code for previous Windows versions and have a good laugh.

Is that like if a tree falls in a forest and there's no-one to hear it?

If you don't get caught, then surely you haven't technically broken any law (until you get caught and found guilty).

Nope: I misread it as "Pubic Clown"

Yes, but then you'll also be removing the heat output and possible out-gassing of the components as variables as well.

Unfortunately, you're right - that's the current state of patents.

The original idea of patents was to encourage sharing of ideas and that the patents should be written so that a person skilled in the relevant field could re-produce the process. Without patents, there's little incentive to share innovations with others on a business level.

I think the current state of patent law stifles innovation as you can't just invent something without infringing on multiple patents that you've never seen or knowingly used.

I totally agree. There should be some way to ensure that Patent offices are penalised for allowing obfuscated or obvious patents.

Nope, ideas can crop up multiple times, but it works a lot better if people can just share ideas. We're all "standing on the shoulders of giants" thanks to people who are willing to share ideas rather than keep them secret and presume that someone else will hit on the exact same idea.

Everything we do is a matter of choice. I think the idea of some kind of trickster god is abhorrent - he makes creatures that enjoy the effects of alcohol and then tells them (in some versions) that they're not allowed to drink it.

It's like the garden of Eden: eat whatever you want, but not THAT tree over there. That tree - the one I'm pointing at. It's got the most delicious fruit that will immediately give you knowledge, but I forbid it. No, not the one on the left - this one here. It sure looks tasty, but NO!

And he was saying that to a woman! He was either extremely stupid or really spiteful.

Also, if alcohol had no effect on humans, would it still be banned in some religions? Is it inherently evil, or is this a case of god creating a specific effect just to fuck with us?

I don't see anything wrong with drinking alcohol (in moderation) and see no reason to abstain, especially when human society has used brewing for thousands of years to make water safe to drink.

I don't blame god for anything as he's clearly some kind of fairy story to scare kids - similar to the boogeyman.

If drinking alcohol is so abhorred by god, then why didn't he just make us immune to it? If we didn't feel the effects, then we wouldn't drink it. Man, that god bloke is seriously stupid - he even wired our retinas back-to-front and gave us badly designed backs for standing upright.

Copyright theft? Copyright infringement possibly. Copyright theft would be removing the copyright from the original author.

The problem with not having patents is that it encourages people to keep things secret to stop others from copying. This then leads to great ideas being lost when the business fails or the inventor dies.

I think the "patentable" bar should be set higher, so that a process has to be particularly inventive and non-intuitive to get a patent for it. The problem with software patents is the stifling effect from having too many obvious patents. If lots of developers can independently re-invent the same idea (e.g. progress bar) then the patent should be rendered invalid.

Probably not that rich due to the length of time that patents last for. The evidence suggests that the equivalent of patents in Greece around that time (500BC) only lasted for a year.