Z:gnu-www-ja-stallman-mec-india--a0b555-Now most of the time when peop/en

Now most of the time when people describe how the patent system works, they are people with a vested interest in the system. And so they describe the patent system from the point of view of somebody who wants to get a patent and then point it at programmers and say &ldquo;hand me your money.&rdquo; This is natural, you know; when they sell lottery tickets, they talk about people who win, not people who lose. Of course most of the people lose, but they don't want you to think about that, so they talk about the ones who win. It's the same with patents. The patent system is a very expensive lottery for its participants. But of course, the people who run the system want you to think about the small chance you might win.