What is the patent right again? Oh yeah - this:-
"It is no longer debatable what the patent right is. As I just explained, the Supreme Court told the country in 1852 in Bloomer v. McQuewan that it consists altogether in the right to exclude others – and that is all it is. It is not an ambiguous “exclusive right”; it is a simple right to exclude others. Period."
An Interview with Judge Giles S. Rich, 9 FED. CIR. B.J. 75 (1999). (Hat tip to Prof. Crouch)