>In terms of intellectual property, it's my feeling that it's more important for a good idea to be used rather
>than who came up with it. Think of this: what happens if two drug companies both come up with
>an AIDS vaccine. What's more important: that the company that came up with it first gets to
>charge $19.95 or that it gets used at all? An extreme example, but a clear one.

Actually something similar happened, not regarding a vaccine, but regarding the identification
of the retrovirus that causes HIV. A US pharmacutical company patented some their findings
most of which had been copied from a french(?) research group, mainly to gain recognition for the
US group by claiming all that it was their research. "And the Band Played On" somewhat explored this
issue. "And the Band Played On" is a really good movie that HBO made some years back.
Anyway, your post reminded me of that.