What is at the core of this need to steal other people's ideas? HN is supposed to respect the rule of law and western respect for innovation and collecting the fruits of your labor.

If someone won't give you a decent price, reverse engineer their work and come up with a creative alternative.

I'm not arguing that its OK to patent code or abstract ideas that are the basis for BS "catch all" patent infringement lawsuits or amazon 1-click buy nonsense. I'm talking is about real inventions. Television, radio, wheeled luggage, etc.

I also think that code should be copyrighted, but cannot be patented.