My comment: "the issue today is patent work-arounds"

Optymystic's response: "You state that as if it were fact. Do you have any specifics that might suggest that what you say has some validity?"

What I know and have worked with are internal and external scientists and engineer who do a great job of designing work-arounds for patents. There are businesses that specialize in developing work-arounds; I've worked with Ideation International Inc., they are very impressive example of such companies. I also know that technology advances occur rapidly in this business. Some of those advances make previous patents obsolete, as those old technologies are left behind. I'm sorry if these words seem less than optimistic, but this is really going on in industry. Granted, some patents are harder to work around then others, but time kills all patents, some before expiration.