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Revolutionizing copyright...
Nov. 19th, 2002 03:42 pmOne of my friends asked why I want to overthrow the current IP regime. This is my reply:
Well, I don't think software should be protected under copyright at all. The copyright system was never designed for functional products. I think it belongs in its own category (it doesn't really fit well with patents either) with reduced rights. The short lifecycle of software makes it ridiculous to protect it for 50 years after the author's death or first publication. And I think there should be mutual obligations on the producers of software, not this ridiculous "whatever happens to your computer because we're incompetent is your own problem" attitude. Especially if it's used to force people to continuously pay for new products.
Business method patents? Well, my main issue is that the US patent office is stupid. They have no clue about what is novel and inventive. So they grant all sorts of ridiculous patents which then cost a lot of money (>US$1M) to challenge. The liberal government's innovation patent scheme is just as bad - you basically get automatic approval of your patent. Our lecturer patented the wheel.
Well, I don't think software should be protected under copyright at all. The copyright system was never designed for functional products. I think it belongs in its own category (it doesn't really fit well with patents either) with reduced rights. The short lifecycle of software makes it ridiculous to protect it for 50 years after the author's death or first publication. And I think there should be mutual obligations on the producers of software, not this ridiculous "whatever happens to your computer because we're incompetent is your own problem" attitude. Especially if it's used to force people to continuously pay for new products.
Business method patents? Well, my main issue is that the US patent office is stupid. They have no clue about what is novel and inventive. So they grant all sorts of ridiculous patents which then cost a lot of money (>US$1M) to challenge. The liberal government's innovation patent scheme is just as bad - you basically get automatic approval of your patent. Our lecturer patented the wheel.
