what is patent disclosure?

What's the meaning of the expression "patent disclosure"? Aren't
patents supposed to be public and documented and searchable by anyone?
Aren't patents supposed to foster innovation? If there are so many
cases of companies suddenly claiming out of the blue that something
someone thought of has been patented before by them, isn't this patent
system effectively *preventing* innovation, and causing the waste of
vast quantities of time, efforts and money? Why would a people's
government support those kinds of patents?

If these patents are software patents, aren't they being improperly
utilized? Shouldn't a software company earn its revenue from selling
software, not patents?

Thank you for your answers,
-- 
Juan R. Pozo - http://html.conclase.net/

Received on Thursday, 8 August 2002 15:08:12 UTC