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Document Name	Intellectual Freedom (was Intellectual Property Rights) [2005-11-25]	(not changed)
Creation time	12/12/08 10:10:53 AM	3/11/09 12:31:37 PM
Created by	Andy Gelme	Andy Gelme
State	publish	publish

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<h2>Overview</h2>

Protection of information is important to everyone from those people who

create or own

<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intellectual_property">Intellectual

Property</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intellectual_property">

Rights (IPR)</a>, to those who wish to protect their

<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Identity_theft">own personal details or

identity from misuse</a>, to those who hold information on behalf of others and

even those who

<a href="http://www.techfak.uni-kiel.de/matwis/amat/def_en/kap_5/advanced/t5_1_2.html">discover

or invent (?)</a> natural systems (and wish to claim some sort of

<a href="http://www.scienceinafrica.co.za/2004/january/patenting.htm">dubious

ownership</a>).

<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_rights_management">Digital

Rights Management (DRM)</a> in one form or another is going to

occur and the best we can do is become as educated as possible about the

potential systems put in place, the possible ramifications and then work towards

acceptable outcomes. We owe it to the <a href="http://tara-indigo.org">next

generation of children</a> to get this right, because they deserve, at least, a

reasonable level of

<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intellectual_freedom">intellectual

freedom</a>. The most recent (late 2005) abuse in this area has

been

<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005_Sony_CD_copy_protection_controversy">Sony's

unethical, immoral and possibly illegal behaviour</a> in the

<a href="http://www.sysinternals.com/blog/2005/10/sony-rootkits-and-digital-rights.html">significant

compromising of consumer PCs</a> by placing a

<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rootkit">rootkit</a> on to audio CDs.

As a software developer who both abhors software patents and is also the

inventor of a software patent

(<a href="http://www.freepatentsonline.com/20040226029.html">U.S patent

application

</a><a href="http://www.freepatentsonline.com/20040226029.html">#20040226029</a>

and

<a href="http://pericles.ipaustralia.gov.au/ols/searching/patsearch/search_section.jsp?sectionCode=DTL&keyNo=2003204108&type=S">Australian

patent #2003204108</a>), I've seen first hand the retardation of progress that

comes from frivolous software patents (often lodged by businesses that have

nothing to do with software development). On the flip-side of the coin, I've

seen where a business would not have made significant investment in the

development of non-trivial software Intellectual Property, without the

protection (presumably) afforded by a patents, trademarks and copyright. It is

too early to tell yet, whether in this case the patent has provided any real

boost to progress or will just turn out to be another hindrance to true

progress.

Maybe patent lawyers should apply patent law to their own field of endeavour,

and tie themselves up in knots, before inflicting such contentious laws on other

industries, which were doing just fine by themselves !

I'm not against commercial activities, quite the opposite. I

believe that the best sort of commercial success comes from creativity,

innovation and good execution, rather than using an entrenched position to

stifle up and coming businesses. Therefore, intellectual property laws should

support true progress, not just pay lip service to the concept whilst actually

undermining the efforts of the next generation of young artists and engineers.

<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Stallman">Richard

Stallman</a> vigorously

<a href="http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/not-ipr.xhtml">refutes the term

Intellectual Property Rights on the grounds that it is highly misleading</a>. At

the risk of contributing to that confusion

(<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ianal">IANAL</a>), I've used the term

IPR as a catch-all for patents, trademarks and copyright.

However, each of these distinct areas of laws need to be understood on their

own, as well as how organizations use them in concert to achieve their business

goals (sometimes reasonable, sometimes not).

"The price of freedom is eternal vigilance." --

<a href="http://www.quotedb.com/quotes/2283">Thomas Jefferson</a>

<h2>References</h2>

<ul>

<li>

<a href="http://www.softwarefreedom.org">Software Freedom Law Center</a>

</li>

<li>

<a href="http://lessig.org/freeculture/free.html">Lawrence Lessig's final

presentation on free culture, OSCON, July 2002</a> (you must read

this)

</li>

</ul>

<ul>

<li>

<a href="http://www.linuxdefenders.org">Linux Defenders

web-site</a>, a consortium for defending open-source against patent

trolls

</li>

<li>

"<a href="http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/549822/?sc=dwhn">Economists

Say Copyright and Patent Laws Are Killing Innovation; Hurting Economy</a>",

NewsWire, Michele Boldrin and David K. Levine, 2009-03-06

</li>

<li><a href="http://fsfeurope.org/projects/os/ps">"Analysis on balance:

Standardization and Patents"</a>, Free Software Foundation Europe, 2008-12-02

...</li>

<ul>

<li>"Interoperability trumps Patent" (should be the law)</li>

</ul>

<li>

Tragedy of the anti-commons ...

</li>

<ul>

<li>

<a href="http://www.newyorker.com/talk/financial/2008/08/11/080811ta_talk_surowiecki">The

Permission Problem</a>, James Surowiecki,The New Yorker, August 2008

</li>

<li>

<a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121599469382949593.html">Patent

Gridlock Suppresses Innovation</a>, Wall Street Journal, July 2008

</li>

</ul>

<li>Publishing ...</li>

<ul>

<li><a href="http://www.law.duke.edu/cspd/comics">Bound By Law</a> (comic),

Center for the Study of the Public Domain, 2006</li>

<li>

<a href="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/b46f5a58-aa2e-11db-83b0-0000779e2340.html">Text

is free, we make our money on volume(s)</a>, Financial Times, January 2007</li>

<li><a href="http://www.baen.com/library">Introducing the Baen Free

Library</a>, Eric Flint, October 2000 (good perspective from a publisher /

author)</li>

</ul>

<li>

Paul

Buchheit: <a href="http://paulbuchheit.blogspot.com/2007/08/what-does-it-mean-to-own-right-was.html">What

does it mean to own a "right" ? Was Gandhi a thief ?</a>

</li>

<li><a href="http://www.philsalin.com/patents.html">Phil Salin's article on

Freedom of Speech in Software, July 1991</a> (a programmer's perspective)</li>

<li>

<a href="http://georgetoft.com/presentations/information_privacy/img52.html">George

Toft's presentation on Information Privacy</a> (starting half-way through)</li>

<ul>

<li>Amusing and thought provoking

<a href="http://www.aclu.org/pizza/images/screen.swf">Flash movie that combines

Big Brother and Pizza delivery</a> :)</li>

</ul>

<li><a href="http://www.bustpatents.com">Bad patents</a></li>

<ul>

<li><a href="http://www.bustpatents.com/sites.htm">Useful information about

patents</a></li>

</ul>

<li><a href="https://www.trustedcomputinggroup.org">Trusted Computing Group</a>

(TCG)</li>

<ul>

<li>Don't forget to ask ... "For whom is trusted being created ?"</li>

</ul>

<ul>

<li>

<a href="https://www.trustedcomputinggroup.org/downloads/bestpractices/Best_Practices_Principles_Document_v1.0.pdf">TCG

Best Practices and Principles</a></li>

<li>

<a href="http://cyberlaw.stanford.edu/blogs/bechtold/archives/003155.shtml">Critique

of that document</a></li>

</ul>

<li>

<a href="http://www.eco.utexas.edu/Homepages/Faculty/Norman/long/indexInfo.html">"Informational

Society Notes"</a>, <a href="http://www.eco.utexas.edu/faculty/Norman">Alfred

Lorn Norman</a> (economist), 1994 and revised 1999 (interesting, but heavy

going)</li>

</ul>

<pre class="query-and-include">select %SimpleDocumentContent.content where name = 'Copyright Notice' and InCollection('geekscape')</pre>

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