This Essay Breaks the Law
Friday, March 31, 2006, 07:57 PM - Copyfight
By MICHAEL CRICHTON Published in The New York Times, March 19, 2006
* The Earth revolves around the Sun.
* The speed of light is a constant.
* Apples fall to earth because of gravity.
* Elevated blood sugar is linked to diabetes.
* Elevated uric acid is linked to gout.
* Elevated homocysteine is linked to heart disease.
* Elevated homocysteine is linked to B-12 deficiency, so doctors should test homocysteine levels to see whether the patient needs vitamins.
ACTUALLY, I can't make that last statement. A corporation has patented that fact, and demands a royalty for its use. Anyone who makes the fact public and encourages doctors to test for the condition and treat it can be sued for royalty fees. Any doctor who reads a patient's test results and even thinks of vitamin deficiency infringes the patent. A federal circuit court held that mere thinking violates the patent.
Read the rest of the article
Also: Over 5000 nanomedicine/nanotech patents have now been granted, and the patent land grab continues unabated.
26 comments Weapons of Business Destruction
Tuesday, February 7, 2006, 11:56 PM - Copyfight
How a tiny little "patent troll" got BlackBerry in a headlock:
What would happen if a rogue actor managed to get hold of a powerful patent and threatened to detonate it and destroy e-mail as we know it? You'd have the BlackBerry NTP v. RIM case—the tech world's very own Dr. Strangelove. NTP, a one-man Virginia firm, armed with nothing but patents, currently threatens to bring down BlackBerry and with it the sanity of millions of e-mail addicts. A textbook "patent troll," he wants a billion dollars to stand down. What to do?
It is telling that the dilemmas created by software patents today are routinely compared to those created by nuclear arms, with patent trolls playing the role of the nuclear madman. But while it's easy to bash trolls as evil extortionists, to do so may be to miss an important lesson: Patent trolls aren't evil, but rational and predictable, akin to the mold that eventually grows on rotten meat. They're useful for understanding how the world of software patent got to where it is and what might be done to fix it.
The Slate discusses the obvious differences between patenting an algorithm and a drug.
via /.
stop in the name of copyright!
Thursday, February 2, 2006, 12:55 AM - Copyfight
FAIRYLAND was in turmoil. During a tech rehearsal for the October 2004 Off Off Broadway production of "Tam Lin" — a play about a clash between mortal and immortal worlds — a real-life clash threatened to derail the show. Exactly what happened has become, literally, a federal case, and the sides agree on very few details. Did the playwright, Nancy McClernan, insist that the director's staging was incompetent? Did the director, Edward Einhorn, refuse to alter it? Did the producer, Jonathan X. Flagg, smash some furniture on the set? One thing's clear: the morning after the tech rehearsal, after two months of unpaid work, Mr. Einhorn was fired.
Please learn how everything could have been different if only some people had given away a few dollars on time. Around $3M.
Copyright has a problem: It's called the Internet.
Sunday, January 22, 2006, 10:57 PM - Copyfight
Protecting stuff comes from fear. Believing that someone is out to take it, raises the question of what led you to the conclusion that whatever it is has such a potential for destroying your way of life? And since you have reached this conclusion, where did the idea come from to put it on the web?
As seen in Gapingvoid, a great rant on Copyright in The Head Lemur
Hollywood to Google (on video over IP): don't take it away from me!
Saturday, January 21, 2006, 06:21 PM - Copyfight, Media
Major article from the consultant office i2 Partners War of the Worlds: Hollywood Opts Out of the 'Google Economy':
Hollywood believes large-scale broadband video distribution would only destroy proven value, fail to provide alternative value, and alter a business model that is still far from being in decline. With near-total control of the most valuable program libraries and the business models governing their distribution, a shift towards broadband media will come largely on Hollywood’s terms and at an incremental pace.
Read the article
Download the PDF
TY Damien
The new GPL (beta)
Saturday, January 21, 2006, 06:07 PM - Copyfight
The Free Software Foundation has finally released the draft for the third version of the famous GPL license. As Neco points out there is:
1. This website lists a wdiff -the find-the-seven-differences tool- between the old and the prospective new version.
2. Uwe Hermann also linked a wiki and a comment site where users can give feedback.
3. There is also a rationale document which explains the changes and the contents.
And some more: Linux Pipeline, Proposed GPL Update Open For Business
onedotzero berlin
Friday, January 20, 2006, 09:07 PM - Copyfight
Better late than never: onedotzero returns to berlin for a selection of free screenings in the temporary gallery space Cocobello on Potsdamer Platz. Architecturally- inspired short films from the 'graphic cities' programmes will play to an outdoor audience. bring your bobble hats!
And it's free!
onedotcero
cocobello
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