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"Your romantic notion of singular minds being the genesis of great ideas may do for anecdotes, and (dare I say) "Wikipedia", but bears no relation to the reality of modern innovation... The "telephone" is the best example of this."
Romantic, huh?
http://www.italianhistorical.org/MeucciStory.htm

Telling the truth as history reveals ugly head in such case as Antonio Meucci vs. Alexander G. Bell who practically had beaten down on a poor immegrant with only fault of lacking charm and charisma and ability to speak English is your definition of "Romantic Notion," I urge you to quite while you are ahead. In 1854, Meucci demonstrated the necessity of telecommuncation to hear his paralyzed wife in the bedroom while he was working in his study. Alexander G. Bell, respectfully, did contribute a great deal in telecommunication industry, but who are we romanticizing who here? The history shows, A.G. Bell did do harm to Meucci whom at least should be awarded and credited for his previous patents for allowing Bell to even think of concept of "RINGING" by means of short-cuircuit and not "SHOUT REALLY LOUD." And I'm not even going to mention Bell's perverted ideas toward deaf, regardless of his time.

"Society is not wrong for rewarding those that develop ideas to fruition over abortive attempts. The idea for wireless e-mail is not a fairy creature born from a single head, and should not be mused upon as such."

Not wrong? Therefore the society which encourages co-operative development and innovation without reinventing wheels in parallel over capital gain and market share, is??? The idea for wireless email messaging system is not new or fairy creature born from single head, but surely you can at least admit that it's RIGHT thing to do to acknowledge someone's work which was awarded a patent for before anyone else. Where is your sense of honor and integrity? A just for fellow men? Do injustice harm you less when prevailed without scars?

Your points are valid, but flawed. Not by idealogy, but by practice. Perhaps it's our inherently habitual flaw to not rid of wrong practice in favor of one's idealogy. "Break the law if you can get away with or shall I dare entertain you with an idea of hiring lobbyist." But without further embarrassing myself with my naive, idiotic and "romantic" notion, let me leave you with a quote from a famous guy who got shot off by some pissed off man with a gun after the US civil war. (how is that for a romantic notion)

"The money powers prey upon the nation in times of peace and conspire against it in times of adversity. It is more despotic than a monarchy, more insolent than autocracy, and more selfish than bureaucracy. It denounces as public enemies, all who question it's methods or throw light upon it's crimes. I have two great enemies, the Southern Army in front of me and the Bankers in the rear. Of the two, the one at my rear is my greatest foe.. corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money powers of the country will endeavor to prolong it's reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until the wealth is aggregated in the hands of a few, and the Republic is destroyed."
- Abraham Lincoln

Are you going to give credit to Alexander Graham Bell for inventing the telephone he used to call the police too?

No, but I would credit Antonio Meucci for inventing the telephone, and ask the police to arrest Bell for stealing his patent - well, if he was around today I would :)

cLive ;-)

"If you invented something completely new and revolutionary, such as Bell's telephone..."

What a great example from an IP lawyer! The telephone was invented by Antonio Meucci. He died seven years into a lawsuit with Bell. There's even been a Congress resolution admitting he invented it.

Oh the irony.

"Patents provide an incentive to discover and invent new things, and ensure your time, money and efforts don't go to waste."

Try telling that to Meucci.

cLive ;-)

Many of our most respected inventions, such as the telephone... ...were invented by immigrant Canadians.

Sorry - that was invented by an Italian. Bell just stole his patent.

Whereas Meucci later learned that the Western Union affil-iate laboratory reportedly lost his working models, and Meucci, who at this point was living on public assistance, was unable to renew the caveat after 1874;

Whereas in March 1876, Alexander Graham Bell, who conducted experiments in the same laboratory where Meucci's materials had been stored, was granted a patent and was thereafter credited with inventing the telephone;

.02

cLive ;-)

cLive ;-)

Bzzzt! Wrong Answer...Antonio Meucci did.

A great idea on its own does not constitute innovation. The idea must also be implemented and take the shape of some tangible product or service that can deliver a benefit to a set of customers. This is where great inventors like Alexander Graham Bell, Thomas Edison, and Henry Ford excelled. They were able to build businesses around great ideas.