Graham Murray wrote:
Alexander Terekhov [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
The fact is that the GPL price-fixes IP at zero. The fact is that
zero is below cost of IP creation and hence is predatory. As for the
rest,
The GPL does not fix the price of anything. It gives freedoms in the
sense of a 'free man' not in the sense of 'free of charge'.
It gives freedom as in the GNU Republic where software belongs to
state (and hence it is regulated by state permits akin to lottery or
gun dealership which are neither contracts nor property rights), and
both 17 USC 109 and 17 USC 117 are simply nonexistent. Then comes the
doctrine of copyright misuse... GPL violation of which has raised to
the level of antitrust violation according to Wallace (note that 2nd
Wallace's case is still pending before Judge Young... and I just can't
imagine that Judge Tinder's blackout regarding below cost pricing
conspiracy causing antitrust injury could possibly withstand an appeal)
and according to Prof. Nadan it doesn't even have to raise to the level
of antitrust violation because linking claims alone are sufficient to
put the entire GPL'd code base into quasi public domain (the penalty
for copyright misuse). So pick your choice, GNUtians.
regards,
alexander.
P.S. Standard antitrust analysis applies to intellectual property
The Agencies apply the same general antitrust principles to
conduct involving intellectual property that they apply to conduct
involving any other form of tangible or intangible property. That is
not to say that intellectual property is in all respects the same as
any other form of property. Intellectual property has important
characteristics, such as ease of misappropriation, that distinguish
it from many other forms of property. These characteristics can be
taken into account by standard antitrust analysis, however, and do
not require the application of fundamentally different principles.(9)
Although there are clear and important differences in the
purpose, extent, and duration of protection provided under the
intellectual property regimes of patent, copyright, and trade secret,
the governing antitrust principles are the same. Antitrust analysis
takes differences among these forms of intellectual property into
account in evaluating the specific market circumstances in which
transactions occur, just as it does with other particular market
circumstances.
Intellectual property law bestows on the owners of intellectual
property certain rights to exclude others. These rights help the
owners to profit from the use of their property. An intellectual
property owner's rights to exclude are similar to the rights enjoyed
by owners of other forms of private property. As with other forms of
private property, certain types of conduct with respect to
intellectual property may have anticompetitive effects against which
the antitrust laws can and do protect. Intellectual property is thus
neither particularly free from scrutiny under the antitrust laws, nor
particularly suspect under them.
-- Antitrust Guidelines for the Licensing of Intellectual Property
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