Alexandre Oliva writes:
 > Way back then, should patents exist and the inventor of the wheel file
 > a patent on it,

The reason we have an obviousness test is that in England, somebody
patented the crank.  As you might guess, there was a huge explosion of
patenting effort wasted in finding ways to convert linear movement
into rotational.

Back in 1776, the USA was pirating foreign information technology
(patents and copyrights) routinely.  Does that sound like any
particular country today, Alexandre?  :-)

-- 
--My blog is at     blog.russnelson.com         | If you want to find
Crynwr sells support for free software  | PGPok | injustice in economic
521 Pleasant Valley Rd. | +1 315-323-1241       | affairs, look for the
Potsdam, NY 13676-3213  |                       | hand of a legislator.