> Companies would be incentivized to bury their heads in the sand so they could be sure they were not 'inspired' by anything out there that might have been pate

> Companies would be incentivized to bury their heads in the sand so they could be sure they were not 'inspired' by anything out there that might have been patented. Already the case, because willful infringement penalties are much worse than accidental infringement. Any lawyer will tell you that, as an engineer, you should never read patents: http://www.dresan.com/blog/?p=1030 http://www.dresan.com/blog/?p=1030