I saw this recently and thought it might be of interest to some people on the list with strong feelings about IP. -S.? Software Patent Institute c/o Industrial Tech Inst. 2901 Hubbard St./ PO Box 1485 Ann Arbor, MI 48106-1485 (313) 769-4083 Fax: 313-769-4064 spi@iti.org SPI "folklore" database The SPI is now operating, and we are asking the software community to help us build, our "folklore" database by sharing with everyone the concepts and techniques which they find so familiar, but which the US Patent and Trademark Office generally cannot identify as prior art, since they lack any specific reference to the technique in question. We must help the USPTO do its job better, so that patents are not granted for techniques that have already been invented but were lost in the "folklore" prior to the creation of our SPI folklore database. [There's more to the letter, but I just wanted to give an idea. Contact them for more information if you want. -S.] ------- End of Forwarded Message