[CLUE-Talk] Legal breaking of the MS monopoly

[Timothy C. Klein]

* Matthew Porter (mfporter at c-creature.com) wrote:
> 
> 
> "Timothy C. Klein" <teece at silverklein.net> wrote:
> 
> > * Matthew Porter (mfporter at c-creature.com) wrote:
> > > This isn't quite accurate as a description of copyright law.  You
> > >might beconfusing copyright law with an aspect of patent law.  The
> > >ideas in a copyrighted work are not placed in the public domain "in
> > >exchange for" the privilege of copyright protection.  Rather, copyright
> > >protection simply doesn't extend to ideas, so ideas are *always* in the
> > >public domain as far as copyright is concerned.   Copyright only covers
> > >specific expression.  
> >
> > You are right, IANAL, and I don't know a heck of a lot about copyright
> > law.  But from what I have read of the the Nation's founders had, what I
> > described was the *intent* of those that originally thought this stuff
> > up.  If it is different today, then our laws have betrayed the spirit of
> > what was intended.  Ideas were not allowed to be copyrighted on purpose,
> > not by accident.  Copyright is almost self-defining, it grants the
> > "Right> to Copy" and nothing more. The fact that that is not so simple
> > today> represents a failure on our part.
> >  
> >  
> [clip]
> 
> > >Patent law, on the other hand, is designed with the kind of
> > >quid-pro-quo you describe.  In exchange for filing public documents
> > >which describe your invention in enough detail so that someone else
> > >could use it, you get a time-limited monopoly on the use of that
> > >invention.
> >
> > I realize that patent law works this way.  I believe the first drafters
> > of copyright law intended something similar for copyright.
> >  
> >
> 
> I certainly agree that copyright was supposed to grant a limited right, for
> a limited time, and today's laws have gone way beyond the original intent.
>  My point was more that ideas aren't *placed* in the public domain in
> exchange for copyright protection -- ideas are *in* the public domain,
> copyright or no copyright, whether a work's creator likes it or not.

Yes, this is a good point.

> But the original intent of copyright law was to promote creation of new
> works -- unlike patent law, which was intended to encourage not only
> invention, but also *disclosure* of inventions.  
> 
> Copyright law does intentionally refuse to protect certain things, such as
> ideas, but it doesn't (and as far as I know, was never intended to)
> require disclosure of anything.  You can write a novel, put it in a
> drawer, never show it to anyone, and still it's protected by copyright.

Again, this makes good sense.
 
> But until computers came along the disclosure part of the copyright
> equation was self-enforcing, so the law never had to deal with it.  You
> won't make any money on that novel *unless* you disclose it to the public.
> 
> So to some extent this shows how today's application of copyright law to
> computer source code is a mismatch.  Here we have the sitution --
> unthinkable in the 18th century -- where something can be protected by
> copyright, and a source of financial gain, and never disclosed to the
> public.  Maybe we need an entirely new category of IP, with the some of
> the limitations of copyright and some of the disclosure requirements of
> patent.
> 

I agree.  This is where the problem is to my eyes.  I see copyright as a
form of barter.  The holder is given certain privelages, and the public
is given something in return.  Unfortunately, with the computer age, and
closed source software, I have begun to feel that the public is not
getting enough in return out of the deal.  I don't know that closed
source should be illegal or the like, and I in fact I don't know the
best solution, but the current situation is alarming.  Companies like
Microsoft and Oracle have made huge amounts of money with copyright.
Have they given enough back to society, in return for their
government-granted monopoly on their source code?

Tim
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== Timothy Klein || teece at silverklein.net   ==
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== "Hello, World" 17 Errors, 31 Warnings... ==
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