That Jefferson quote is not only superb, it's profound. I have seen other quotations (from the same letter, as it turns out) of Jefferson on patents, but how an

That Jefferson quote is not only superb, it's profound. I have seen other quotations (from the same letter, as it turns out) of Jefferson on patents, but how anyone could leave this part out is beyond me. The whole letter is worth reading (http://books.google.ca/books?id=rVvUAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA180 http://books.google.ca/books?id=rVvUAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA180). Among other interesting details, Jefferson served on patent boards and had personally been involved in a patent dispute.