Sorry for the quick reply earlier. I pressed something prematurely. I meant Patents, not Copyright. Though frankly, the protection of intellectual rights is essentially the same in principle. The only real difference is that a copyright protects a thing in itself, whereas a patent protects an idea for making things.
In a nutshell, I disagree with you. Patents and Copyrights are essentially similar in that they protect the investment in resources necessary to create intangible products. The fruits of creativity do not come about without time and effort. Granted that algorithms can be picked-up from a book on mathematics, itâs not the algorithm itself being protected but the application of the algorithm to a unique invention. Some sort of transformation process has to be applied in order to turn the algorithm into a useful creation. The transformation process is not merely the creative impulse but the time and sweat necessary to develop a useful invention. The idea behind patents and copyrights is to protect the investment in the creation. If it cost nothing to write software or books then I would agree with you. But in fact it takes time and resources to create something new. It is this investment that intellectual property laws seek to protect. -----Original Message----- From: Rafael 'Dido' Sevilla <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: Philippine Linux Users Group Mailing List <[email protected]> Date: Tue, 15 Mar 2005 12:26:53 +0800 Subject: Re: Re: [plug] Re: Linux trends in the Philippines Your argument shows that you totally failed to grasp Manny's explanation of the difference between patents and copyrights. On Tue, Mar 15, 2005 at 12:04:04PM +0800, Ricky wrote: > Patents are merely an agreement between gov't and private sector > wherein you agree to publish your invention or idea in exchange for an > exclusive franchise for a number of years. You may choose not to > copyright your invention but you will risk someone else stealing the > idea and making money of your ideas and labor. This extends to software > as well as any other process or device. What is it about, patent or copyright? Please, do not confuse the two! Almost everything true about patents is false for copyrights, and vice-versa. > > You may, of course, choose not to patent your software if you are > willing to take-on the risk of protecting the design yourself (such as > locking the original source code in a safe deposit box at the bank) and > reducing your ability to work on future enhancements (addded security > risk) > Talking about "source code" in the context of a software patent shows that you just don't get it. Source code is, and has always been, the expression of an idea, and as such is eligible for copyright but not patent restriction. An algorithm or abstract data structure on the other hand, is an idea of the form that is patentable in certain jurisdictions, and it is the patenting of these mathematical theorems that is the source of all this controversy. > So yes, software patents have a place in society for those who want a > reasonable assurance that their ideas and productive labour can be > protected by law. But what if the patent system serves as a barrier to the progress of an industry, as the software patent system as it exists in the US and elsewhere has demonstrably shown? Is government-mandated protection to inventors an end-all, even if it causes the retrogression of an entire industry? Of course not. The patent and copyright system exists to promote the progress of the fields where they are applied, not as a handout for inventors or authors. -- Debugging is twice as hard as writing code in the first place. Therefore, if you write the code as cleverly as possible, you are, by definition, not smart enough to debug it. http://stormwyrm.blogspot.com/ -- Philippine Linux Users' Group (PLUG) Mailing List [email protected] (#PLUG @ irc.free.net.ph) Official Website: http://plug.linux.org.ph Searchable Archives: http://marc.free.net.ph .. To leave, go to http://lists.q-linux.com/mailman/listinfo/plug .. Are you a Linux newbie? To join the newbie list, go to http://lists.q-linux.com/mailman/listinfo/ph-linux-newbie -- Philippine Linux Users' Group (PLUG) Mailing List [email protected] (#PLUG @ irc.free.net.ph) Official Website: http://plug.linux.org.ph Searchable Archives: http://marc.free.net.ph . To leave, go to http://lists.q-linux.com/mailman/listinfo/plug . Are you a Linux newbie? To join the newbie list, go to http://lists.q-linux.com/mailman/listinfo/ph-linux-newbie
