"The system has worked well for so many years, why should it be abolished?"
I spent more years in the software industry before software patents were invented than after software patents were invented. When the only intellectual property law which applied to software was copyright the legal system worked well in regards to software. It was only after software became patentable as well as copyrightable that the legal system became a hazard to the software industry. So that quote about not abolishing a well working system applies to the transition from copyright only to both copyright and patents. It does not apply to the impending transition to copyright only.
"The system has worked well for so many years, why should it be abolished?"
I spent more years in the software industry before software patents were invented than after software patents were invented. When the only intellectual property law which applied to software was copyright the legal system worked well in regards to software. It was only after software became patentable as well as copyrightable that the legal system became a hazard to the software industry. So that quote about not abolishing a well working system applies to the transition from copyright only to both copyright and patents. It does not apply to the impending transition to copyright only.
-----------------------------
Steve Stites