[Coco] Re: Patents and Copyrights...

[Gene Heskett]

On Tuesday 19 July 2005 02:38, Lothan wrote:

[...]

>It may seem odd to consider that thought and ideas are protected in
>seemingly perpetuity, but I generally agree with the notion with
> some major caveats: 
> 1) We have the freedom to release our knowledge 
> and ideas to the free market (e.g. GPL, LGPL, and others);
> 2) we have the right to protect our copyright within ethical and 
> legal boundaries;
> 3) copyright holders are not allowed to hold the public 
> hostage through egregious digital rights management policies that
> severely restrict our rights; and
> 4) copyright is considered null 
> and void upon the copyright holder's unwillingness to release
> previously published information.

So do I, but just try to get anyplace in court with a defense based on 
3 and 4.  The law is not written that way.  Item 2 currently has no 
ethical or legal boundaries.  Witness the GIF patent debacle among 
others.

[nother huge snip]

-- 
Cheers, Gene
"There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty:
 soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order."
-Ed Howdershelt (Author)
99.35% setiathome rank, not too shabby for a WV hillbilly
Yahoo.com and AOL/TW attorneys please note, additions to the above
message by Gene Heskett are:
Copyright 2005 by Maurice Eugene Heskett, all rights reserved.