"Val Kraut" writes:

" (This is _my_ idea Mook; you can't have it!)

Arthur C. Clarke lived to regret not getting patents on ideas others laughed
at.

The problem with being a visonary like Clarke is that your ideas outlive the
lifetime of a patent before it can be put into practice. As least as patent
laws existed (in the US) at the time Clarke thought of it. It was a good
20+ years later before it became practical...

http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/su/sci/patents.html#Life

Dave