[opendtv] Intellectual property in software
- From: "Allen Le Roy Limberg" <allimberg@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 5 Apr 2008 09:40:42 -0500
The intellectual property rights in software are usually defined by
copyright rather than by letters patent, so the rights to exclude do not end
in twenty years. That is why Microsoft has more money than God.
We should wish software was protected exclusively by letters patent. It
certainly would be more equitable to other inventors.
The idea that algorithms should be unpatentable comes from Protestant
Christians who think the algorithms are in the mind of God or some other
cockamamie idea. The academics didn't want to be prevented from writing
equations on paper, but that could have been solved by some sort of fair use
doctrine being borrowed from copyright law.
One of the big losers when machine-run algorithms were considered
unpatentable was the inventor of DFT -- Toumey (sp?), from Princeton as I
recall. Why should he have had less protection for his technical
contibution than an inventor of some trivial gadget?
The sad fact of being an inventor is that the large companies who profit
handsomely from your idea will steamroll you to avoid paying any royalty.
Everybody wants a freebie. That's the real greed, the greed of thievery.
And it's usually the thieves who most vociferously accuse honest workmen of
being greedy.
Al Limberg
----- Original Message -----
From: "Tom Barry" <trbarry@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, April 05, 2008 7:25 AM
Subject: [opendtv] Re: Definition of Greed
> Patents were originally an idea to improve the public good. They were
> harder to get, expired quickly, and did not apply to abstract algorithms
> before some court case in the 1980's.
>
> But like any other series of complicated laws of government favoritism
> they have spawned an ecosystem of their own, with predators and
> parasites causing a tax on the system.
>
> We seriously need reform and should banish software patents completely.
>
> - Tom
>
> Craig Birkmaier wrote:
> > At 8:57 PM -0700 4/2/08, John Willkie wrote:
> >
> >> Isn't an "inventor" one who possesses or seeks to posses a patent?
> >> Isn't that a deed that permits one to extract "monopoly rents?"
> >
> >
> > No.
> >
> > The whole purpose of patents "was" to publish the details of inventions
> > so that society as a whole could benefit from the rapid proliferation of
> > the technology. The whole point was NOT to restrict access or to charge
> > monopoly rents, but to give the inventor fair compensation for the
> > invention in exchange for a period of exclusivity.
> >
> > That being said, the intent of patents and the reality have turned into
> > different things. We now see non-inventors, typically lawyers, buying
> > and litigating patents for profit - I'm not certain GREED is the correct
> > term for this...
> >
> > I prefer sleazy.
> >
> > It could be argued that much of the most valuable intellectual property
> > is found in trade secrets, not patents. IN this case the companies ARE
> > hoarding the technology for profit. Again, this may not be greed, but
> > rather the desire to prevent others from using and/or profiting from an
> > invention.
> >
> > So there is nothing greedy about patents.
> >
> > Regards
> > Craig
> >
> >
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>
> --
> Tom Barry trbarry@xxxxxxxxxxx
>
>
>
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