THE RIGHT TO CREATE of many CREATORS has been seriously threatened for a long time. And this is SERIOUS for all of us, since many of these are SUPERCREATORS: CREATING THE PHYSICAL TOOLS OR IDEAS THAT (NONSUPER)CREATORS USE TO CREATE!

1. 95% of the INDEPENDENT INVENTORS (who go or are taken to COURT) LOSE THEIR PATENt RIGHTS TO CORPORATIONS WHO CAN MAKE THE PROCESS SO EXPENSIVE AND TIME-CONSUMING THAT THE INDEPENDENTS MUST DROP OUT. (I mislaid a Washington Post story about this from 10 to 15 years ago. The POST will not cooperate in retrieving it. And the Libarians I've consulted failed me. Can you help me track this down?)
2. Many years ago, I read a Washington Post article finding an extensive anti-patent attitude among judges high in the country's Court system, arguing that "an idea is not a product worth money".

3. Our most famous inventor, Thomas Edison (x-y), spent more on defending his patents in Court than he made from patent licenses. (I found a book saying that this info came from the Executor of Edison's estate. I've lost the reference. Perhaps you can find it.) And I've noted elsewhere similar treatment of Eli Whitney, our previously greatest inventor.

4. The most important invention of this century is the MICROCHIP -- in computers, TVs, cars, pacemakers, blenders, etc. Yet the inventor of the microchip, Jack Kilby, is ignored in his native America. But was honored by the Japanese by receiving the Kyoto Prize, and $250,000 honorarium.

5. I know only book which recognizes the inventors who helped us win The American Revolution and develop it well into the 19th century: Yankee Science in the Making. It was written by a Dutch-American mathematician. Our native historians ignore this!

6. Especially do our historians ignore SAM SLATER (x-y), "The Father of the American Industrial Revolution"! (Slater was also "The Father of The American Sunday School", which was a real school for working children and youths, especially girls)

7. DOUBLE-STANDARD: The Right-to-Lifers, who vociferously oppose ABORTION OF FOETUSES, say and do nothing about THE ABORTION OF POTENTIAL CREATIVE ENDOWMENTS which could "pay" for those children they wish to save! And Right-to-Choicers say nothing about THE CHOICE OF CREATORS TO CREATE!

8. Find me an economics textbook or other work which EXPLAINS how new wealth gets into the economy via invention!

9. Prove me wrong on this. That it is no longer feasible for independent inventors to pursue their work. They must bind themselves to corporations or universities, which claim their work. An inventor who found a way of ridding us of toxic waste is now in prison because he refused to give up his patent to the University that employed him. "The law says" that, if a person forces me to a contract under duress, that contract is not binding. But this does not extend to duress on the part of corporations and universities by refusing to deal with the independent inventor-contractor.

   • Case in point, involving the alternating windshield wiper, a great convenience and safety device. The inventor worked for Sears, but did his work in his home garage, on his own time. Yet Sears claimed that anything an employee did at any time and anywhere belonged to the firm. After years of litigation, the inventor's patent right was recognized by a court about 5 years ago. But a year later, it was back in litigation and no mention of royalties to the inventor.

   • Several years ago, major repairs began on the Woodrow Wilson Bridge, a heavily traveled connection between Virginia, D. C. and Maryland. The chief contractor received a bonus for finishing ahead of schedule. In reporting this, The Washington Post noted that a major aid in this was a structural unit which could easily be lifted in place and installed. But the story also noted that the American inventor's patent rights were under litigation and, at this time, he had received no royalties for his valuable invention. The story also noted that the inventor took his invention to Japan and began receiving royalties after 6 months.

   • 15 or 20 years ago, The Washington Post ran a story which showed the great influence of independent inventors up to that time -- in discussing invented conveniences in the kitchen. It said that all (prior to the microwave oven)of these except one (the garbage-disposal) were bestowed on us by independent inventors, working in garages or basements. Where now are these independent inventors and their convenient inventions?
   • Inventive gunmakers helped us with the American Revolution and expand the country. But, today, the biggest (formerly American) gunmaker, Smith & Wesson, is British owned, and the second biggest (formerly American gunmaker), xxx, is Austrian owned. Does this tell you something about the decline in American inventions? What does The National Rifle Association have to say about this?

10. Historians and the Media don't tell you about "the double standard" in Law. A man can, before witnesses, kill several people. But if the city or state or Federal government bungles bringing him to trial before a given period (I think it's 2 years), he can go free (because of violation of his right to a trial), never to be brought to justice again. This is in Criminal Law. No such requirement exists in Contract Law. I read of one case that lasted 99 years! If a corporation wants your invention, it can make it so expensive and draw proceedings out so long that you cannot compete and have to give up.

11. Historians don't tell you this. In the 1858 Lincoln-Douglas Debates, Abraham Lincoln described "the struggle between ... two principles. The one is the common spirit of humanity, and the other the divine right of kings.... It is the same spirit that says, 'You toil and work and earn bread, and I'll eat it'. ... [W]hether from the mouth of a king who seeks to live by the fruit of [the People's labor] or, from one rance of men ... enslaving another race, it is the same tyrannical principle." (Paraphrasing, "You invent or create, and I'll profit from your work without giving royalties or crediting your work.")

My notion of creators extends not only to inventors, workers in the plastic arts and music and theater and literature and such, but especially to those in the crafts because of my dressmaker mother and gardner father, whose creations were meanly recognized and rewarded.