Discussing this biological patent database,
The Economist says: " By calling biomimetic tricks "
biological patents,"
the researchers are just emphasising that nature is, in effect , the patent holder."

Who is natures patent holder ?
How did nature come up with all theses brillant ideas ?
Many researchers would attribute that seemingly ingenious design evident in nature to millions of years of evolutionary trail and error..
Other researchers , though , arrive at a different conclusion...
Microbiologist Michael Behe wrote in The New York Times in 2005:
" The strong appearance of design [ in nature ] allows a disarming simple argument: if it looks , walks and quacks like a duck ,
then, absent compelling evidence to the contrary ,
we have warrant to conclude it's a duck.."

His conclusion ?
" Design should not be overlooked because it's so obvious.."
Surely , the engineer who designs a safer, more efficent aircraft wing would deserve to recieve credit for his design.
Likewise, the inventor who devises a more versatile bandage--
or a more comfortable clothing material or a more efficent motor vehicle-- deserves credit for his or her design.
In fact , a maufacturer who copies someone else's design
but fails to acknowledge or credit the designer may be viewed as
a criminal...