[Big Snip] > Therefore I propose that patents initially be granted to be of a very > short duration (all kinds of patents). After that patent reaches the > expiry date, if the owner of the patent is still actively using the > patent in some process or product, then a normal extension can be > granted. Otherwise the patent expires and the idea is returned to the > public domain so that someone who wants to better society can use it and > develop it. Copyrights are another issue, and I'm in favor of > shortening their duration. Did you know that under the pre-Sonny Bono > copyright laws, Disney's copyright on the "Mickey Mouse" character would > have expired this year? Thanks to Bono and others, it's now copyrighted > for at least another 50 years. Is Disney alive to benefit from this?
Hey Michael, I like this idea -- even better than what I was suggesting. --Dan ____________________ BYU Unix Users Group http://uug.byu.edu/ ___________________________________________________________________ List Info: http://uug.byu.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/uug-list
