Ben Franklin on Patents:
From, The First American: The Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin by H.W. Brands
"[Franklin] declined the offer of exclusive rights to his stove. His was not the patenting personality, one that perceived knowledge as the property of its discoverer. Rather he saw philosophy -- broadly construed, as it was in those days -- as a collective undertaking. What one investigator unearthed ought to become the common property of all. As it applied to patents, he explained, 'That as we enjoy great advantages from the inventions of others, we should be glad of an opportunity to server others by any invention of ours, and this we should do freely and generously.'"
From, The First American: The Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin by H.W. Brands