PG and you draw the wrong conclusion - to the extent hardware is like software it should only be protected as expression. The sad fact about intellectual prope

PG and you draw the wrong conclusion - to the extent hardware is like software it should only be protected as expression. The sad fact about intellectual property law is that the courts have taken the "To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts" part of the copyright clause and affixed it to the first amendment instead. The implicit message of including the clause in the constitution at all is that the right to copy exists and belongs to everybody. That right is only properly traded when the expression or invention fulfills that requirement. That being said, I don't advocate acting as if patents are not where they are. You've got to take the world as you find it, and if the government makes patents available on loose terms you should use that to your business's advantage.