"I've been thinking lately that with the number of patents in existence, the likelihood that a newly submit patent application is truly novel without any invali

"I've been thinking lately that with the number of patents in existence, the likelihood that a newly submit patent application is truly novel without any invalidating prior art is probably very low." A great scifi short story that examines this eventuality in the context of art & perpetual copyright : Melancholy Elephants, by Spider Robinson. http://www.baen.com/chapters/W200011/0671319744___1.htm http://www.baen.com/chapters/W200011/0671319744___1.htm