A granted patent is the result of a bargain struck between an inventor and the state ,by means of which the inventor gets a limited period of monopoly and publishes full details of his invention to the public after that period terminates.
Galileo’s greatest glory /was/ that in 1609 he was the first person /to turn the newly invented telescope on the heavens/ to prove /that (planets revolve around the sun rather than around the Earth).
