"Open source licenses are often described as the "constitutions" for the communities that form around the software they govern. That would seem to imply that in their absence, alongside other unwanted consequences, the communities would collapse. A provocative paper by Clark Asay, Assistant Professor at Penn State University Dickinson School of Law, suggests that this isn't the case, and that software could be released into the public domain and yet still thrive as a collaborative project."
I've never known anybody to even suggest this. The purpose of the GPL is to stop industry or other entities building on open source code and then refusing to share their improvements. Clearly such entities would not really be part of the core community and would just be bit part actors on the side lines scraping up scraps of code from the web.
The problem is not so much the "not sharing". It's the unfair advantage they gain.
Telsa have to admit we have a long way to go before their electric cars can match standard American gas guzzlers.
The Times need to make sure the next time they send a reporter to review what is essentially an oversized child's electric go-cart, they send someone who can at least operate a toaster without instruction. I think their reporter in this case would have struggled with that task.
This is really just one more reason to use LibreOffice.org instead or even Google Docs.
That way everybody is a winner. Microsoft's software doesn't get pirated and users get to use their software as they see fit and save £100 or so into the bargain.
Even more shocking than this policy of Microsoft's is how EMC licences Captiva. They do it "per image captured". When you reach your pre-paid level of images you can't scan any more until you buy a new licence package.
Imagine if Microsoft charged per Word document? Perhaps by page produced in Word? Or even per word typed in Word?
I know 6 to 8 years isn't exactly a lifetime, but so far as free offers or discounted hosting deals go it's a damn good run.
The company could probably phase this out more gradually. If the hardware's failing and it's going to cost them too much to virtualise then what else can they do? Sticking to the line "we promised" isn't a viable business model.
Techdirt is always ready to criticize companies and organizations for sticking belligerently to failing business models. Well when things change there are often casualties. You can't have it both ways.
Patents and copyright are government sponsored licensed monopolies. Given that they are "licensed", meaning your monopoly doesn't last forever (in theory), it should be illegal to sell them on.
Think of it this way. You apply for a drivers licence, pay the fee, take the test and if you meet the criteria you get your drivers license. You are no however allowed to sell that license on. Now some people will say "yeah but that drivers license is unique to you and covers only you". Which is true.
However the whole point about copyright and patents is the IP created is unique. An inventor is granted a patent when the inventor creates a unique innovation nobody else would have thought of because it's not obvious. Which makes that invention or innovation unique to the inventor.
Of course the USPTO and the US government know full well the overwhelmingly vast majority of patents are not for unique innovations or inventions. Which is why they are moving to "first to file" rather than "first to invent". Which really brings into question the legitimacy of most patents.
LOL! This whole IP ownership nonsense gets more ridiculous by the day. Before you know it every human on the planet will have to devise his/her/it's own language and totally unique name just to live without being sued. Of course we'll all have to pay each other royalties every time we talk to one another using the other's language.
So what this guy is saying that just by using consumer technologies, bought and paid for from a high street store, consumers are infringing on patents? God help us if this is allowed to set a precedent. Can you imagine how many patents the average consumer could be accused of violating? How many patents are involved in PCs, cars, TVs, mobile phones, land line phones, cookers, microwave ovens, iPods, MP3 players, bues, power tools, toys, trains and planes and any other consumer device or object you care to name?
The Amish life is looking appealing. Although I'm pretty sure someone has a patent on the horse and cart.
If you can't use information or knowledge then what's the point of knowing about it? And that's what IP laws do. They lock-down knowledge and stop people from using it. So it really makes no difference if people kept their knowledge secrete without IP protection. It's a rare event when there's only one person working on an idea. The world wouldn't suffer without IP laws.
What these patents demonstrate is that anything can be patented if you fill in the form correctly and pay the money. Now who's patented blogging? Seriously that's got to be more lucrative than a temporary snow person.
I predict an anti-trust law suit in the next few years when Windows 8 hits the stores. Apparently Microsoft are insisting OEMs and ODMs producing "Ultrabooks" who are participating in the Windows 8 logo program use a "security" feature of UEFI which requires an OS to be digitally signed with special keys. Which will of course lock out many GNU/Linux distributions from the mainstream PC market.
I think this will come down to the format rights for the shows. If the Italian show infringes on the BBC's format rights then the BBC could have a case. As dumb as that sounds. I think the BBC are being really stupid here.
I think maybe all these little developers should move to a country where copyright is considered sufficient to protect original software works. Maybe then the US and other countries where software patents are problematic will get a clue.
Have the TechDirt staff been taking stupid pills lately? I don't think anybody calls e-mail "file sharing software". I think we know what sort of applications this university are talking about. Torrent clients and the like.
It's also not a bad thing to get people to learn about copyright, what is or isn't infringement. Isn't that part of what you guys try to do here. Make people aware?
Simple fact of the matter is Nominet has always reserved the right to discontinue your domain name if you don't play by their rules. This is nothing new. Domain names so far as I know are effectively rented for a minimum of 2 years.
So who makes the final decision? Likely Nominet in the first instance. However they are a British company operating under British law. Which means they must abide by certain trading standards.
Now if the Police take improper action and pressure Nominet to take down a site without sufficient evidence purely on the say so of the MPAA. The you could conceivably complain to the Police Complaints Commission.
Where I find ICE particularly controversial, which is what the article seems to be comparing this policy review by Nominet to, is that ICE seems to operate beyond USA borders. Which is actually more of a case for each country managing it's own registries than it is an anti-IP case.
The UK is not the USA. Our Police aren't nearly as trigger happy as in the US. And technically speaking domain names could probably already be seized if there was evidence to support the seizure. This is not a new law or the establishment of a new body. This is an existing company reviewing it's policies to formalise what they're already doing.
Considering Nominet have stated civil requests should be excluded. Meaning the record industry can't just ask Nominet to do a seizure and they're considering an appeals process and have excluded requests that would suppress free speech. I think we should wait until the screw up before we shoot them.
I also think a few more people here should actually read the PDF.
"Draft recommendations – key principles
•
Nominet should have an abuse policy that specifically addresses criminal activity in its terms and conditions.
•
Nominet should be able to act under an expedited process to suspend domain names associated with serious crime when requested by a law enforcement agency.
•
An expedited procedure to suspend domain names should only be available where a) it is the last resort in dealing with the domain name, following requests with registrar, ISPs etc in the first instance or b) it is the most viable option to prevent imminent or ongoing serious consumer harm.
• The policy should exclude suspension where issues of freedom of expression are central aspects of the disputed issue.
• Nominet should consider establishing a registrant appeal mechanism.
•
When the policy is operational, Nominet should set up an independent panel to review how the policy is working.
• Nominet should exclude civil or third party requests from this policy (which is focused on criminality), but these merit further discussion under the policy process.
•
Nominet should communicate the outcome of its policy development to Government to inform its own deliberations in this field."
Most of the water we need comes from our food. Anybody who actually drinks 8 pints of water everyday will likely suffer from water on the brain. Which can be fatal or leave lasting damage.
Play it safe and pay attention to your body. You normally know when you need a drink. Because you're thirsty!
(untitled comment)
"Open source licenses are often described as the "constitutions" for the communities that form around the software they govern. That would seem to imply that in their absence, alongside other unwanted consequences, the communities would collapse. A provocative paper by Clark Asay, Assistant Professor at Penn State University Dickinson School of Law, suggests that this isn't the case, and that software could be released into the public domain and yet still thrive as a collaborative project."
I've never known anybody to even suggest this. The purpose of the GPL is to stop industry or other entities building on open source code and then refusing to share their improvements. Clearly such entities would not really be part of the core community and would just be bit part actors on the side lines scraping up scraps of code from the web.
The problem is not so much the "not sharing". It's the unfair advantage they gain.
(untitled comment)
I think it's best to find out before commenting just what these sites are/were up to.
The real lesson is ...
Telsa have to admit we have a long way to go before their electric cars can match standard American gas guzzlers.
The Times need to make sure the next time they send a reporter to review what is essentially an oversized child's electric go-cart, they send someone who can at least operate a toaster without instruction. I think their reporter in this case would have struggled with that task.
Just use Libre Office
This is really just one more reason to use LibreOffice.org instead or even Google Docs.
That way everybody is a winner. Microsoft's software doesn't get pirated and users get to use their software as they see fit and save £100 or so into the bargain.
Even more shocking than this policy of Microsoft's is how EMC licences Captiva. They do it "per image captured". When you reach your pre-paid level of images you can't scan any more until you buy a new licence package.
Imagine if Microsoft charged per Word document? Perhaps by page produced in Word? Or even per word typed in Word?
Life Sucks, Move On!
I know 6 to 8 years isn't exactly a lifetime, but so far as free offers or discounted hosting deals go it's a damn good run.
The company could probably phase this out more gradually. If the hardware's failing and it's going to cost them too much to virtualise then what else can they do? Sticking to the line "we promised" isn't a viable business model.
Techdirt is always ready to criticize companies and organizations for sticking belligerently to failing business models. Well when things change there are often casualties. You can't have it both ways.
Selling Patents And IP should Be Illegal
Patents and copyright are government sponsored licensed monopolies. Given that they are "licensed", meaning your monopoly doesn't last forever (in theory), it should be illegal to sell them on.
Think of it this way. You apply for a drivers licence, pay the fee, take the test and if you meet the criteria you get your drivers license. You are no however allowed to sell that license on. Now some people will say "yeah but that drivers license is unique to you and covers only you". Which is true.
However the whole point about copyright and patents is the IP created is unique. An inventor is granted a patent when the inventor creates a unique innovation nobody else would have thought of because it's not obvious. Which makes that invention or innovation unique to the inventor.
Of course the USPTO and the US government know full well the overwhelmingly vast majority of patents are not for unique innovations or inventions. Which is why they are moving to "first to file" rather than "first to invent". Which really brings into question the legitimacy of most patents.
IPMAX In Thunderdrome!
LOL! This whole IP ownership nonsense gets more ridiculous by the day. Before you know it every human on the planet will have to devise his/her/it's own language and totally unique name just to live without being sued. Of course we'll all have to pay each other royalties every time we talk to one another using the other's language.
Re:
IBM and some other company tried and failed.
(untitled comment)
So what this guy is saying that just by using consumer technologies, bought and paid for from a high street store, consumers are infringing on patents? God help us if this is allowed to set a precedent. Can you imagine how many patents the average consumer could be accused of violating? How many patents are involved in PCs, cars, TVs, mobile phones, land line phones, cookers, microwave ovens, iPods, MP3 players, bues, power tools, toys, trains and planes and any other consumer device or object you care to name?
The Amish life is looking appealing. Although I'm pretty sure someone has a patent on the horse and cart.
(untitled comment)
If you can't use information or knowledge then what's the point of knowing about it? And that's what IP laws do. They lock-down knowledge and stop people from using it. So it really makes no difference if people kept their knowledge secrete without IP protection. It's a rare event when there's only one person working on an idea. The world wouldn't suffer without IP laws.
Fill in the form and pay the money!
What these patents demonstrate is that anything can be patented if you fill in the form correctly and pay the money. Now who's patented blogging? Seriously that's got to be more lucrative than a temporary snow person.
Microsoft and UEFI
I predict an anti-trust law suit in the next few years when Windows 8 hits the stores. Apparently Microsoft are insisting OEMs and ODMs producing "Ultrabooks" who are participating in the Windows 8 logo program use a "security" feature of UEFI which requires an OS to be digitally signed with special keys. Which will of course lock out many GNU/Linux distributions from the mainstream PC market.
Format Rights?
I think this will come down to the format rights for the shows. If the Italian show infringes on the BBC's format rights then the BBC could have a case. As dumb as that sounds. I think the BBC are being really stupid here.
(untitled comment)
Just when I thought ad campaigns couldn't get any dumber than Microsoft's. I'm proven wrong.
Maybe they should move?
I think maybe all these little developers should move to a country where copyright is considered sufficient to protect original software works. Maybe then the US and other countries where software patents are problematic will get a clue.
(untitled comment)
Have the TechDirt staff been taking stupid pills lately? I don't think anybody calls e-mail "file sharing software". I think we know what sort of applications this university are talking about. Torrent clients and the like.
It's also not a bad thing to get people to learn about copyright, what is or isn't infringement. Isn't that part of what you guys try to do here. Make people aware?
This is not a violation of free speech.
If someone was running around a cemetery kicking over headstones wouldn't people expect the police and the courts to do something about it?
Defacing a memorial is just wrong no matter where it's done.
Re: Thin end of wedges
Simple fact of the matter is Nominet has always reserved the right to discontinue your domain name if you don't play by their rules. This is nothing new. Domain names so far as I know are effectively rented for a minimum of 2 years.
So who makes the final decision? Likely Nominet in the first instance. However they are a British company operating under British law. Which means they must abide by certain trading standards.
Now if the Police take improper action and pressure Nominet to take down a site without sufficient evidence purely on the say so of the MPAA. The you could conceivably complain to the Police Complaints Commission.
Where I find ICE particularly controversial, which is what the article seems to be comparing this policy review by Nominet to, is that ICE seems to operate beyond USA borders. Which is actually more of a case for each country managing it's own registries than it is an anti-IP case.
(untitled comment)
The UK is not the USA. Our Police aren't nearly as trigger happy as in the US. And technically speaking domain names could probably already be seized if there was evidence to support the seizure. This is not a new law or the establishment of a new body. This is an existing company reviewing it's policies to formalise what they're already doing.
Considering Nominet have stated civil requests should be excluded. Meaning the record industry can't just ask Nominet to do a seizure and they're considering an appeals process and have excluded requests that would suppress free speech. I think we should wait until the screw up before we shoot them.
I also think a few more people here should actually read the PDF.
"Draft recommendations – key principles
•
Nominet should have an abuse policy that specifically addresses criminal activity in its terms and conditions.
•
Nominet should be able to act under an expedited process to suspend domain names associated with serious crime when requested by a law enforcement agency.
•
An expedited procedure to suspend domain names should only be available where a) it is the last resort in dealing with the domain name, following requests with registrar, ISPs etc in the first instance or b) it is the most viable option to prevent imminent or ongoing serious consumer harm.
•
The policy should exclude suspension where issues of freedom of expression are central aspects of the disputed issue.
•
Nominet should consider establishing a registrant appeal mechanism.
•
When the policy is operational, Nominet should set up an independent panel to review how the policy is working.
•
Nominet should exclude civil or third party requests from this policy (which is focused on criminality), but these merit further discussion under the policy process.
•
Nominet should communicate the outcome of its policy development to Government to inform its own deliberations in this field."
You normally know when you need a drink.
Most of the water we need comes from our food. Anybody who actually drinks 8 pints of water everyday will likely suffer from water on the brain. Which can be fatal or leave lasting damage.
Play it safe and pay attention to your body. You normally know when you need a drink. Because you're thirsty!