John Fields wrote:
On 24 Apr 2006 13:06:21 -0700, wrote:
John Fields wrote:
You don't know what you're talking about and, in fact, without
intellectual property our lives would be pretty boring. Just think,
no music, no poetry, no computer programs... Also, no antibiotics.
Wanna go back to that kind of a life?
I don't, and I'm no longer interested in this dialogue.
Rather ignorant assumptions you are making, considering that all of
your examples were well established traditions BEFORE the became
considered ownable "intellectual property"
---
Well, sometimes it takes a while before we can figure out what
something should be called, but the fact remains that if someone
thinks up a way to do something it was _their_ intellect which
allowed them to do it, so that means that the intellectual property
(which is the way to do it) belongs to them.
Yes, as it consists of only a neural arrangment in their head. Or
perhaps a collection of notes in their possession, symbolic
information, or perhaps in binary form on a hard drive. Any theft of
these objects is a clear violoation of your rights. Especially the
head.
Once others have seen or recorded this information, they now also
possess copies of that information. If you don't want anyone to know,
you'd better be careful who you tell.
let's do a little thought experiment, OK? See if you can keep up...
Let's say that my name is Isaac Newton and that I've come up with a
way to describe, in exquisite detail, the motions of the planets
around the sun, but I don't tell anyone how it works, I just sell
them the data.
Since I'm the one who invented the method and I'm the only one who
knows how to make it work, who would you say the method (and the
data, BTW) belonged to, before I sold it? To you?
To someone else?
Who?
Johannes Kepler
Or maybe some other giants who's shoulders you've stood upon.
Now that you've told me you have such an idea Isaac, I would be
curious. Probably not much commercial application however. Have you
tried to write or sell your idea as a proposal to some religious or
academic bigwigs? Perhaps you'd best publish it openly in a concise
form and you'll have any academic job offer you'd like and more. As
for your ideas about calculus, you should have published them openly
much earlier. Sure, you still obtained fame and fortune, but with his
earlier publication Leibinz stole some of the glory that could have
been yours in inventing the Calculus.
Sorry for the diversion.. how about an example for the discussion
using someone who actually benefitted from intellectual property law?
Cheers - shevek