On the insanity of the patenting system

There was this particularly 'insightful' post on a slashdot discussion about insane patents about obvious stuff like Amazon's 'search inside the book' feature (Hell, it isn't an innovative idea - no one could manage to convince publishers or have the resources to do it - there are plenty of e-books which are searchable). Here's part of the post:

"Surely anyone who claimed that there is no incentive go grow cotton without "niggers" on the plantation would be considered a barbaric. But if someone claims that there is no incentive to create intellectual and knowledge works without copyrights and patents, then society calls them enlightened. If someone had said that the great wealth of America rested on slavery as a property right and the plantation system, they were a foolish idiot. But if someone says that the great wealth of societies in the information age rests on "Intellectual Property", then they are called wise. Anyone who says that slavery was about property rights and not control, is a liar. However, if they say that copyrights and patents are not about control, but "Intellectual Property" then they are considered trustworthy. How about - if you don't like slavery - don't own slaves, and if you don't like copyrights no one forces you to buy those creations. How about - if you don't believe in slavery, you must be an anarchist, if you don't believe in copyrights and patents you must be communist. How about - you are a thief if you free slaves from the plantation, you are a thief when you copy someones "Intellectual Property"."

Read the entire thingy. And then there's the guy who wondered if he could patent his DNA and then sue his spouse for patent infringement when she gets pregnant! The Onion has a nice satire about this.