On Jun 1, 2007, at 9:40 AM, YKY (Yan King Yin) wrote:
On 6/2/07, Russell Wallace <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> > But why do you accept the right of the authors of software to
make money, yet deny the right of intellectual workers who create
intellectual capital (such as *novel* algorithms that are *non-
obvious*)?
>
> If an algorithm is accompanied by an implementation, the people
who created it can make money from that. An algorithm that is not
accompanied by an implementation, and which other people are not
free to use to create their own implementations, does not constitute
capital - on the contrary, its value is negative, because it
prevents other people from independently inventing it.
Isn't this a definition of what constitutes "work" and "property"?
I think there's little doubt that intellectual work should be
considered a form of work. And intellectual property seems to be a
reasonable way of rewarding inventors -- think of other forms of
patents such as Edison's patent of the light bulb, that also
restricted others from copying; so why should software be an
exception to this?
Who can own an idea? Ideas increase in value the more they are shared
and built upon. Why limit their value artificially? Edison patent
was on a physical invention, not the very idea of such a thing.
Patenting software is a bit like patent a mathematical technique. It
decreases the applicability of the invention and places fences across
the intellectual landscape of the discipline.
Also, please remember that patents do not completely "prevent"
people from practicing something -- licensing is always an option.
Licensing is not mandatory or necessarily for reasonable prices. More
and more patents are collected so one's company may have the right to
not be burden by the software patents of others by trading the mutual
right not to enforce one's own patents. How much energy and effort
is wasted by such friction? How many relatively small concerns and
individuals and projects are stalled by not having sufficient funds or
patent portfolio or legal fees to play such games?
- samantha
-----
This list is sponsored by AGIRI: http://www.agiri.org/email
To unsubscribe or change your options, please go to:
http://v2.listbox.com/member/?member_id=231415&user_secret=e9e40a7e
