Re: patenting colimits?

[Toby Bartels <toby+categories@ugcs.caltech.edu>]

Vaughan, I agree with nearly all that you say about how good it would be
if category theory found practical, commercially viable application.
The only thing that I don't understand is why you see patenting it
as a *good* thing, when (as you say) the purpose of a patent is
>temporarily (namely until 2025) barring entry of others
>to whatever market turns out to have been created by this application,
that is, to *prevent* (in part) commercial application.

I can only suppose that this is because patents are one of
>the usual protocols of the business world
along with many other anti-competitive practices.
(Interestingly, software patents are unavailable in much of the world,
so I'm not sure that it really makes sense to call them "usual".)
I know that if *I* ever come up with a commercially viable application (ha!),
I would not wanted to be hobbled by a patent on the relevant mathematics.


--Toby


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