PhantomReference: why not cleared by GC when enqueued?

[Clemens Eisserer]

Hi,

> Why phantom references are not automatically cleared by the garbage collector as they are enqueued?

I've heard several times that actually a software patent is the reason
for this quite strange bahviour:
https://forums.oracle.com/forums/thread.jspa?threadID=1158696&tstart=60

However, no idea whether its just rumor or true ;)

Regards, Clemens